The Weight of Currency

I apologize up front if the snappy title may have misled you, but there will be no discussion about the monetary impact of the world on AFT Software here! Rather, this article will point out some resources to help Users get the most out of their AFT products when our world is in a constant state of flux!

One of the main aims of the team of Application Engineers here at AFT is to not only provide direct assistance, but to make it known exactly what resources Users have available to them! Perhaps the most stressed and a common topic in this category is to remain as up-to-date as possible with our software. As our development team is always hard at work to improve our products and implement new ideas that are usually the result of customer feedback, we try to stress the advantage of using the latest and greatest we have to offer. Many of the support cases we experience here at AFT can be resolved simply by staying up to date, as the issue Users might be experiencing has likely already been remedied. Don’t let this happen to you!

Before getting to the “nitty gritty” there is some jargon to be cleared up. There are two terms that we use when speaking about updates regarding the software we offer, are “version” and “release”. A version update is a completely new product all in itself, for example upgrading from AFT Fathom 7.0 to AFT Fathom 8 was a version update. The interim patches that are released for minor fixes and changes are called maintenance releases. Depending on the state of your SUM agreement with AFT, Users may or may not be entitled to newer versions upon their release! For any questions regarding the state of your SUM agreement, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

To tell if you are using the latest we have to offer you will need to follow the quick set of instructions below.
       -Open you AFT Products on your Computer
       -Browse to the Help Menu found at the top of all AFT Applications
       -Choose “About AFT ____...”
Here you will see the release date and the version of our software that you currently have in use. A quick trip to the AFT website’s download page will indicate when the last maintenance release was published or even what the latest version is! If these dates do not match up, then you are NOT taking advantage of the improvements we continually make to our products!

All of this is great Jake, but how do I get myself up to date then? Well, it’s simple! Browse to the download page on our website and choose the product you are using. Then click on the link that says release for that application. You will be ferried to a new page with a “Full Version Option” that will have details about the release date of the build. Download from this link and your application will automatically update. If you are not comfortable with doing this yourself or know that you have certain computer restrictions, be sure to contact your IT department for assistance, we will be more than happy to help them! The same link applies to those joining the experience of a newer version as well!

Before trying to upgrade to the latest version however, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to see if your licensing structure needs to be updated as well to support the newer products! And again, if you are unsure if you are entitled to a version upgrade, shoot us an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

So what exactly has been changed since the last time I downloaded a release of AFT Arrow? All maintenance releases have an accompanying set of release notes. In this text file, the detailed changes are outlined including anything that may impact results. There is a link available on our website to these notes, and this file is included whenever you download our products from our download page, titled READ ME, in the application directory on your hard drive!

If you have taken on a newer version of AFT Software, there may be some lingering questions.

First, do I have to un-install the last version we have been using? The answer is NO, in fact you do not! Because every version is a separate program in its own right, Users that have built up significant amounts of models in older versions will not have to delete the previous platform they have grown accustomed to. This choice will be up to you or your IT department, but please understand that any issues in the previous version that were not resolved until the release of the latest version will not be changed, as old products are no longer under active development!

What about my old model files? Depending on the version model files were created in, newer versions of our products have an excellent forward compatibility from the previous version. If models were created before that, AFT also offers a converter utility available for download on our website to help bring these model files up to date. As with any cyber endeavor it is good practice to ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR WORK! For direct assistance or any questions regarding model file conversion or any topic discussed in this article, please visit our support center or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

For our companions that rely on the V&V packages and commercial dedication packages of our software, the latest version available is outlined under our “Services” tab on our main web page. For more information about our V&V options, please visit Archon Engineering’s homepage!

Be sure to take advantage of the continual improvements being made to our products by using the latest release of the software we have to offer! For automatic notifications of news and update information, check us out here