Barry,
Is _screen.Visible = .f.?
There are also a possible fundamental differences between the environment of a .app and a .exe. The .app is seeing all of the SET default values that you have currently in effect from the Tools/Options pages. The .exe sees the SET default values as defined by VFP.
>Yet, when I run the .app, it runs fine. I've never encountered anything like this before. Don't know where to look!