>>Of course you could get fancier and check for the existence of the directories rather than just renaming them.
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>Can that be done from the batch level? Might help trap some user errors..ie clicking on the batch file while the ap is running.
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>CG

It's been a long time since I did any significant batch file work, but I seem to remember a way to test for files and directories. Something like EXISTS.

You might consider writing this program as a small VFP app. It could be two programs or one that is called with a pararmeter to identify which of the actual programs is to be run. The VFP "director" program could test to see if either of the actual programs were running (you can find ways to do that in the downloads section of the UT) change the directories and the run the actual program. I've done this sort of thing and it works well.