I use SDT for recreating indexes, packing, etc. Anything else, I use a progress bar where feasible. Otherwise, I use a variation of your technique. :^)

>My technique:
>
>USE mytable
>WAIT WINDOW "The frigging computer is BUSY!" NOWAIT
>INDEX ON myfield TO myindex.IDX
>WAIT CLEAR
>
>:-)
>
>
>
>>Ok, I may use this technique, though it's not elegant. I also have another solution - Yuri Rubinov ProgBar. It works for Count or Replace, but doesn't work for Index On. From VFUG I also downloaded another ProgressBar, which does its work for indexing too, but it's an overkill for me. Take a look at them and you may find them useful in your applications.