vb.net - keeping program updated?

I'm looking for suggestions on keeping a program that is running on a network updated. Installation consists of 15 users, each have the program on their local pc, but they all access same date from sql server. I am looking for a clean method that would allow me to update one folder on the network and for each computer to get updated when they r开发者_StackOverflow中文版un the program and the programs sees a later ver on that folder on the network. (Obviously I can do this inside the program itself since it won't allow being overwritten while opened.)

You should have a look at

ClickOnce is a deployment technology that enables self-updating Windows-based applications that can be installed and run with minimal user interaction.

• Using ClickOnce Deployment in VB.NET
• ClickOnce - A new VB.NET 2005 Deployment Tool
• ClickOnce Deployment for Windows Forms Applications
• ClickOnce Deployment in .NET Framework 2.0

Another option is to create a second program that will check the network for an updated version of your application. Let's call this program "updater.exe".

You can run updater.exe on system startup like Adobe Reader or Sun Java do.

Or, when your application is started it can load updater.exe. If updater.exe finds an update, it can close/unload your application, download the newer version, restart your application and close itself.

astander's answer above is correct, you can use ClickOnce for this. Another option is creating this application as a web application.

Web applications basically work the way you described, the application's files reside in a web server, all the users connect to it using a browser, and to update the application you only need to update the files in the server.