I need some general advice and hope that you can give me some guidelines...

I have done all my database programming in Access 2000 up to now, and feel quite competent and comfortable using Access.

As you would know, the problem with Access is that most users out there do not have Access, and distributing an app is always a headache. Therefore I thought it would be wise to move away from Access and find a different vehicle for my creations.

Is VB the answer? Which database should I connect to from my VB front end? The examples in my VB course all connect to the Jet db engine (= Access). Does that mean that I'm back at square one? Is there a stand alone db available that I can distribute with my VB app?

What I would like to do is, write a database app, and make it available to a user, without the user needing anything special (like Access) on his computer.

I hope I make myself clear ... as you can probably see, I'm an amateur doing this as a (serious) hobby, so please be gentle and assume that I know nothing about this subject!

I appreciate your advice

B