The smart a*s answer is, use SQL Server (or other *real* database management tool to store the data) and use VFP for the client side software. Otherwise you are limited by network security for protecting the DBF files ... I did this with a payroll module in an application but it was not very pretty. I was able to prevent some users from seeing the directory in which the files resided. Unfortunately, once the user was granted access to the payroll application they got access to the DBF's as well.

You have just described one of the major drawbacks with DBMS like VFP.

Just my 2c ... I'm sure others will have better responses.

CT