Can't Access ACT! Database Troubleshooting

Have you ever gotten this error:

The database ACT11 demo could  not be accessed in order to access this database check your network connection and verify that your database is server is available. 

While there's many reasons why you might get an error about connecting to ACT! - firewall issues, bad database, network issues - lately (March 2011) there seems to be some commonality to what's happening.  I want to share a quick check method to get you back up and running so you can at least keep working.

First, a short techie note. There are two main parts to ACT! software:
1. the screen you see - navigation, contact info tabs, menus, etc - is what I'll call the ACT! "program".
2. the data itself, however, is in a program called Microsoft SQL Server, which for most people, does not have an interface/window that you normally see.

It's the SQL Server that often is the cause of this, and what I'll focus on here.  SQL Server is what's called a service in Windows - it runs automatically in the background when the computer starts, whether or not you're logged on or not. If SQL Server is not running, then your database is not available, and you get the error.

To check:

1. Go to Start>Run
2. Type in services.msc in the Run/Search box
   Note: you might also find this under the Administrative Tools program folder just called Services
3. When that window appears, scroll down to SQL Server (ACT7)
4. The third column - Status - should have "Started" in it.  If empty, SQL Server is *not* running.
5. If empty, click Start the Service link on the left part of the window [or right-click SQL Server (ACT7) and choose Start]

Now you should be able to login to your ACT! database.

Finally, although the reasons for this happening lately vary, often Automatic Updates is turned on, and Microsoft releases new updates mid-week, Wednesdays being the most popular day - which is the day I receive most emails from clients reporting this issue.  If this happens to you every Wednesday or Thursday, that's why.

To fix, you need to identify the update that is causing SQL Server to stop and "remove" it from the update process.  Contact me for more info...