Care and Maintenance of Microsoft Access databases

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Microsoft Access was first released on 13th November 1992. In those days PCs were not networked and the database was a personal productivity tool like Excel. Access was a single user database system, all the objects were contained in a single file. Records could be added and the database file grew in size. Records could be deleted but the free space was not reclaimed straight away. The database file bloated through usage. Access has a function called Compact and Repair. This function compacts the database and reclaims space left when a record is deleted. As time goes by, even on a single user system the database slows down because Access has to trawl through all its data to find the required record. Compacting the database therefore speeds it up.