Mary-Ann-

While jumping in on a Tasker API thread is not my idea of a good time < gd&r>, I feel I must ask if using getobject() wouldn't work for you. From the help, note that:

With some server applications, each time you issue GETOBJECT( ), an additional instance of the application is started, using additional memory. If the application is already running, you can prevent additional instances of the application from starting by omitting FileName and including ClassName, as in this example:

oleApp = GETOBJECT(, "Excel.Application")