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>>There's also the _ShellExecute class in the _Environ.vcx class library that you'll find in the FFC folder directly beneath VFP. Further, the Windows Script Host's WScript.Shell object's Run method can do this and wait for the called application to close as well.
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>Thanks for the hint. I'm still feel uncomfortable using the WScript in our standard programs that we distrubute here, I do not know how many users have the WScripting host installed. Is there a way to check for this?

Rather than checking for the WScript.Shell registry ProgID under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, I'd recommend looking for VBScript.RegExp. Both are part of the WSH, but the latter will tell you if the most recent version (2.0) is installed. It wasn't part of 1.0. For further information, I'd suggest that you go to www.vfug.org, and check the series on the WSH that Ed Rauh and I wrote for the newsletter. It's available on-line and began in last September's issue, which will give you all the details regarding what platforms/versions/SPs of Windows it's part of. It also lists some sources of documentation for more information on the WSH in general. I wrote a postscript article on the series (this past June's issue I think), which documents some changes made to the file names mentioned in the first article (as well as some other WSH related material).