>>You can still do that with a progress bar. Set the max progress to 1, start at 0. Put up the progress bar at 0 so the user knows something is happening, and just kick to 1 (or just remove it) when you are done.
>
>Oh, I don't like that if it's what it sounds like. The progress bar initially displays showing zero progress (correct), then does nothing until the operation is complete? As a user my reaction would be that the operation has either crashed or is going to take forever.

I agree.