Using an EXE Versus Access Database: What It Means to You
Many developers mistakenly think that distributing an application with the runtime version of Access is equivalent to distributing an EXE. Your users can modify an unsecured database distributed with the runtime version of Access just like any other database.Users can run your application under the runtime version of Access, and all the rules of running an application under the runtime version apply. This means that users can't go into Design view, can't create their own objects, don't have access to the built-in toolbars, and so on.Using their own copies of the standard version of Access, users can open the same database. If you haven't secured the objects in the database, users can modify the application at will.In short, a database that you prepare with the Package and Deployment Wizard is no different from any other database. The wizard doesn't modify an MDB file in any way. It simply compresses all the files needed to run your application, including the database and runtime engine, and creates a network install folder or distribution disks containing the compressed files. Two ways to protect the design of your application are to set up security and to distribute your application as an MDE file.