>I like leaving set talk on enabled when running a query but I would like to customize the "Running Query..." message that is displayed. Is there any hack around or configuration option to change this message. If not, is there any other way to get feedback from a query that I could incorporate into a progress bar or status display of some sort.

The only thing you can do is display a message before running the query. I use WAIT WINDOW NOWAIT "Collecting records" or something similar.