>I have a select statement that needs to search for the nearest matches in a talbe. If the user enters "T" in the search field, then the select statment to select all those records that begin with T. Set near is ON, Set Exact is Off. But what happens is that all the records that begin with T show up but so does everything after T, names with U, V,W, X, Y,Z....can anyone assist?

Try SET KEY TO 'T' RANGE 'Tz'

Never tried this on SELECT, but I think it works there too.
It scopes to a "filter" on the given range, and uses the concerning index (yep, which you must have).