You could create a reference to both forms, for example

goForm1 = createobject('form1')
goForm2 = createobject('form2')

You can now reference form1 from form2 and vice versa. Imagine form1 is active and form2 is hidden. A button on form1 could perform the command:

goForm2.caption = 'Form2'

and this will change the caption property of form2, even though it's hidden. You can access all objects and properties of form2 in this manner. The command could quite easily be:

goForm2.timer1.enabled = .F.

Derek