News | FWM Software

The Lien Writer™ Newsletter
Thursday, September 20th, 2018

Clearing the Lien Writer™ License Table

With Lien Writer™ you can setup more than one user license for the program and each user can use the program independently of the other users. You do this by setting up the program users on stations connected to a server, where the commonly used database is located. But, we occasionally have users call up and tell us something like “we have three licenses but only two of us can get in to the program. What gives?” What gives is often how you logged out of Lien Writer™ and if your server knows all parties are logged out.

Like most software, Lien Writer™ is designed, via your License Code, to allow a set number of paid users into the program, starting with one and, in the current version, up to 99,999 users, simply by the setup of the License Code. However, Lien Writer™ requires users to enter into the program by its execution on your desktop icon or from you Start Menu, and to log off of Lien Writer™ by pressing the “Exit” icon in the extreme upper right hand corner of the program screen or by pressing the “F11” key while in the program, or by selecting “File” from the Main Menu, then selection the option “Exit Lien Writer”. All three of these options safely log one out of the program,

But, there are many other ways a program can exit incorrectly. When one of the aforementioned methods to exit are not used, the program can retain a listing of these users in its access table, show them still logged in to the program. Common ways for this to happen are when a user is bumped out of the software by a computer glitch (computer locks up), or they fail to log off at night and the office backup system kicks them out of the computer before the nightly backup is done, etc. Whatever the reason for the failure to log out, if you do not correctly log off the computer Lien Writer™ can be closed with users still showing as being logged in.

So, you think, why is that a big deal? It is because Lien Writer™, when booted on its next session of use, may note these parties as still logged in, and limits the number of users who can log onto the program, resulting the following notice as users attempt to log on to the program. This can happen with only one user: