Updating a Network Installation

The materials in CaseFinder's data files are current through the end of the month printed on the face of the discs. Each month, new discs are published, containing all of the materials that were on the prior month's discs, along with new materials issued by the courts and legislatures during the month which appears on the face of the disc. CaseFinder subscribers receive a new set of discs every month.

"Updating" consists of nothing more than replacing an older CD Disc One in the CD drive with the newer CD Disc One. (Likewise, if CD Disc Two had been in a second CD drive, replace the older CD Disc Two with the newer one in that drive.) Then start CaseFinder. The rest is automatic.

Note: No one on the network should be using CaseFinder when the update is performed.

Also Note: If a monthly update was skipped, it does not need to be performed. Thus if a subscriber is using the August discs, fails to update to the September discs when they arrive, and then the October discs come in, it is not necessary to perform the September update before doing the October.

When CaseFinder is started, it senses the newer CD in the CD drive, and always overwrites a few little files. If none of the databases had previously been placed on a hard drive, the process only takes a few seconds. However, if some or all of the databases had previously been placed on a hard drive, they will be overwritten with the newer material. The process is automatic, but you may be prompted to place the other disc in the CD drive, and, depending upon the speed of your hardware, the process might take five or ten minutes. If all of the databases had been transferred to a hard drive, and if one or more concurrent use permits had been purchased and installed, CaseFinder was probably running without any CDs in the CD drives, but it is still necessary to place the latest CD Disc One in the CD drive and start CaseFinder to perform the update.

Very Very Important. The latest CD must be placed in the CD drive which had been used when the installation was performed and CaseFinder must be started from the computer that was used to perform the installation. ¹

Program Updates. Minor revisions and improvements (and if need be, bug fixes) for the CaseFinder program are issued occasionally and always at no charge. Overwriting existing files on the workstations with these later versions is part of the updating process, and it is performed automatically when the foregoing procedures are followed.

Workstation Updates. Unless there had been an update to the Program files, as described in the preceding paragraph, the updating process will not change anything on the workstations. If there was a program update, a message to that effect will appear on the workstations when CaseFinder is started from them, giving the user the choice of "O.K.", and any updating of the workstations is performed automatically.

FOOTNOTE: ¹ In order to determine whether a particular computer was the one used to perform the installation, go to Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. A list of all the programs that had been installed on (or in this case, "by") that computer will appear. If CaseFinder had been installed from that computer, the word "Casefinder" will appear, and this is the computer you should use to perform the updates. If instead, the workstation version of Casefinder had been installed on this computer, the words "Casefinder - Workstation" will appear, and you should not use it to update the network version of CaseFinder.

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