There have been 2 changes made to the upcoming version 9.2 of RentMaster because of Windows Vista issues.

After running a software update, normally it would automatically restart RentMaster.  Unfortunately now it will not.  That is because in Windows Vista, the update must be run as an administrator.  When the update completes and it automatically restarts RentMaster, the restarted version is now also running as an administrator.  This can cause a lot of confusion if you don't normally run as administrator, because it will now be looking at a different database.  Because the update process can not detect what version of windows you are running, this will affect all users.  It simply means you will need to start RentMaster yourself manually.

The second change is the disabling of the database compaction option for all users who are running Windows Vista, and who are not running as an administrator.  This was causing too many problems, so now it has been removed.  This only affects people running Windows Vista and Windows 7, and are not running RentMaster as an administrator.

Just like the new landlord login at RentRecall.com, the tenant login has also have a major overhaul.

The new version adds property inspection results and property inspection photos.  These have been available on the landlord login for a while, so now the tenant can also benefit from it.

The new version also gets the same rent payment timeline graph the new landlord login has.

The tenant gets the option of either the advanced version or the basic version, so they can still use the old version if they prefer.

The owner trial balance report lists owners along with the current balance due to them.  So if a disbursement was to be done immediately afterwards, the value printed would be the same as the disbursement value calculated.

This report has been extended to now print all owners, including those with a zero balance due or a negative balance due (e.g. they have more expenses that income).  A total will be printed below the balance due owners, so you can budget the required cashflow to pay them out.  A separate total will be printed at the end of the report.

The landlord login on the RentRecall.com web site has had a major overhaul.

The new version has most of the same features as the old one with a few new additions.  In particular the landlord can now download a copy of their transactions in CSV file format.  This will allow them to import their transactions into Excel or other spreadsheet software.  They may also be able to import it into an accounting program.  The Download Transactions button is at the top of the Transaction Summary tab.

The new version also has a new graph on the Rent Summary tab.  This show a payment timeline.  This show the payment history of the tenant at a quick glance.

The new version hopefully has a more appealing interface.  This includes an animated introduction, and pages that fade in and out and a colourful menu.  It is also faster once it gets started because it preloads all the information at the beginning, which means the later menu navigations are a lot faster. 

The landlord login now contains the old 'basic' login, and the new 'advanced' login.  So for anyone who preferred the old one, it is still there.

From a more technical perspective, the new version using a new technology called Microsoft Silverlight.  When you run the application for the first time, you may be asked to download the Silverlight runtime files, which are quite small and install easily.

Let me know what you think of it.