Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Microsoft Money Backups

Microsoft Money can go wrong at any point. It can happen to anyone.

Even with the tight control I try to have on my file, I once again needed to rely on my backup mechanism for Microsoft Money (i use the UK 2005 version).

On starting the Money file, the CPU went to 100% and stayed there. Money can be slow at times, but after 15 CPU minutes of it, I decided that this definitely was a problem with the file.

A quick repair, then the standard repair didn't seem to make much difference (apart from making the file a lot bigger - nothing too unusual). Time to go back to backups.

Fortunately, the mechanism I use meant I had a set of backups I could use. Once I identified that there was a possible problem, I usually take a copy of the backup file, so I can always use it again, and it won't get overwritten. In any case, I had others to use.

Restoring the backup seemed to fix the problem, and there was little data to add to the file (one transaction). I did notice a side effect, and this was with the data on my Pocket PC. When restoring the file, the account balance of a particular account then went out of sync. Fortunately following my own advice (FAQ Article 180) sorted this issue out.

All is now fine. I don't expect it will be the last time though :-(

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