Hi Joel

I actually have just started working on the loader application. I have a FTP site that has the updates available that users can access to get updates but it is currently a manual process to download and install the updates. I have tested automating the download of these updates and it looks like it should be easy enough to do. To satisfy the IT Nazis, I will probably make it check for availablity of updates, notify the user that updates are available and have an administrator level password required to approve the download and store it to a network shared folder. The loader will check this network folder and update the application on the workstation when updates have been downloaded. This appears to be a common way of providing automated updates. I will look into Rick's Update tool. Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving

Elmer

>Hi Elmer,
>
>We have a setup similar to this, except that our workstation update routine is separate from the internet component. Each workstation runs the loader program which checks the local network for updated files. When desired, the client runs a program to pull updates from the internet, which are copied to the file server, which in turn updates all workstations. Very little maintenance on the client's part and the control freaks get to upgrade when they are ready. I think Rick Strahl wrote a free online update tool recently, so you might want to check it out on his web site.
>
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>>This customer's main concern was to reduce maintenance when updates are sent, so that they would not have to update each workstation and to reduce network traffic by not running the the application from a network share. I can probably address this issue as I am writing a loader program that will periodically check the internet for available updates that will automatically download and apply them as needed. The only problem that I see with this solution is that the "control freaks" in the IT department will probably not want the application to automatically update itself without their expressed approval and control, so I will probably have to provide some mechanism to notify them when updates are ready for download and allow them to approve the update before it is applied.
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