Downloading Canadian Databases

The Canadian stock segment of Best Choice contains about 3,000 Canadian stocks. This database contains a 10-year history for each stock. Canadian stock and earnings prices are listed in Canadian dollars. Canadian earnings are difficult to obtain and are not available for all stocks.

The Canadian data is provided primarily for our Canadian users. There is not an extra charge for viewing the Canadian data in Best Choice, and you do not have to be licensed to view them. Dial Data also does not charge extra for the data.

While users from the United States may be tempted to download and view the Canadian data, there are a few reasons why you should not bother. First, there are already certain Canadian companies traded on the American Exchanges. Nortel Networks is one example. It is traded on the NYSE as NT. It is traded on the Toronto exchange as NT-T. The canadian stocks are all shown in the charts in the Canadian currency, which can be confusing. The largest reason for US users not to bother looking at Canadian data is because the majority of Canadian stocks are low volume stocks, especially compared to US stocks. Canadian companies earnings are much more difficult to obtain as well. For people in the US, it is much better to concentrate on US stocks.

If you have a high-speed modem you can connect to our website to download the files. These files are compressed and are about 50 megabytes in size. They expand to about 220 megabytes of storage space on your hard drive. They are too large to be downloaded on a 56K modem. If you have a 56k or dial up modem, you must use a Best Choice cdrom that is dated within the last 90 days. If you do not have a current cdrom, please call our office (941-747-5858).

Installation for high speed internet users (cable, dsl, satelite) only.

1. If you have a 56k modem, do not attempt to download these databases over the internet, as it will never finish. These databases are too large to download.
2. In the Best Choice program, click on the Help menu at the top, and then click Utilities.
3. When the Utilities window opens, click the second tab, "Downloads"
4. On the left side of the Utilities window, there is a dropdown box with an arrow on the right side of it. Click on the arrow to show the list, and click on "5. Canadian Databases"
5. Click on the "Download from the Internet" button. This will start the download.
6. This may take up to 30 to 50 minutes depending on your internet connection.
7. Once this is finished, close the Best Choice program, and then re-run it to enable the updates.
8. The way to confirm whether the databases were installed correctly is to click on the user list drop down box in the upper right corner of the Best Choice program.
9. You should see "Toronto", and "Vancouver" in the upper part of the list in alphabetical order. They will not be in the lower part of the list with your user lists created in the wizard.
10. If you are still having problems with this, call tech support at 941-792-7776.
11. See Updating The Databases at the bottom of this page.

Installation for 56k users with a cd-rom disk.

1. If you do not have a recent cd-rom disk, you will have to contact Sunny Decker at 941-747-5858.
2. Place your cdrom disk in your disk drive of your computer.
3. In the Best Choice program, click on the Help menu at the top, and then click Utilities.
4. When the Utilities window opens, click the second tab, "Downloads"
5. On the left side of the Utilities window, there is a dropdown box with an arrow on the right side of it. Click on the arrow to show the list, and click on "6. Mutual Fund Databases"
6. Also on the left side of the Utilities window is another dropdown box which initially has the "c:" drive in it. Click on the arrow on the right side of this dropdown box and select the proper drive letter that is your cdrom drive with the Best Choice CD in it.
7. Once you have selected the proper drive, click on the "Load From CDROM" button.
8. This will start copying the databases from your cdrom drive.
9. Once this is finished, close the Best Choice program, and then re-run it to enable the updates.
10. The way to confirm whether the databases were installed correctly is to click on the user list drop down box in the upper right corner of the Best Choice program.
11. You should "Toronto", and "Vancouver" in the upper part of the list in alphabetical order. They will not be in the lower part of the list with your user lists created in the wizard.
12. If you are still having problems with this, call tech support at 941-792-7776.

Updating The Databases

Once you have downloaded the databases, you will most likely have to update the Canadian data. After you have re-run the Best Choice program, select a Canadian stock such as Nortel Networks (symbol NT-T) and set it for "All Data" on the time frame. Notice the date on the chart in the lower right hand corner. This is the last day of data from the downloaded database.

If it is not the last trading date (yesterday unless it is after 9pm eastern), then you will have to update the Canadian data by downloading from the day after the last date till today. You will do this by going to the download window by clicking in the yellow telephone icon in the top left of the toolbar. The first calendar date (Start Date) should be the day after the last day in the chart. The second calendar date (End Date) should be one or two days after the first date. It is ok if you redownload US stock data that you have previously downloaded. Dont try to download more than a few days at a time. If you need more information on how to download, click here.

After you have updated your Canadian stocks to the latest date of data available, it will probably be a good idea to re-index. If you are unsure of how to do this, click here.

If you need additional assistance, call our support office at 941-792-7776

All information Copyright Best Choice Software 1998-2004

For more information about this website, email webmaster@bestchoicesoftware.com