Ya Bob. Smart for now. It should work fine. Downline you might install 2008. In fact, once you know what an named instance is you can run both 2005 and 2008 at the same time I think - you can just turn 2005 off if you want without installing 2008. 2008 just added a couple of data types as far as I know so anything you write using 2005 will run fine in 2008. Look under your computer Start Menu under the SQL Server Express folder and you will see a few entries for features. There will be something with the word "Configuration" in the name and I want you to see if there is one with the word "Management" or "Manager" in the name and tell me what it is. We are looking for the Sql Server Management Studio which is an optional download in 2008 and I do not remember but think it was an optional download in 2005 but I might be wrong. Anyway, check it out since it can come in handy. There should only be 2 or 3 or so items listed under the SQL Server folder in your Start Folder so tell me what you have there. Those are the programs you use to manage your Database Server settings. Rick USA