Access Database or Text File For data Retrieval

I have a database table with about 100,000 rows of names in it. My web site has a search page that allows visitors to search through the names by entering either a full name, part of a name or a string from the name. ("Mik" returns Mike)

There are a few instances of "like" in my query and I believe that it slows down the loading time of the results. It is an access database.

I was wondering if it would be faster and better for the server as far as not having to open database connections if I were to create a flat file with all the names in it and I would write ASP to open the text file and search through each record in the text file in a loop and then display the data.

 

MSAccess isn't the best database solution but it's better than trying to use a text file. At least you can use indexes with access. Definitely setup relevant indexes for your query. Any reason you can't use MySql instead of access?

 

I would love to use MySql but I don't know how to use it and I suppose I'm a victim of habit.

I like mike changes directly in my database and I'm not sure you can do that with mysql, can you?

 

Yes, there are plenty of good mysql gui clients that make it very easy.