>Ed,
>
>I use WSH.Run() if I need synchronous execution of the child process.
>

Aw, gee, Dave, can't I do a little shameless self-promotion? < g >

Wscript.Run does fine, but it doesn't permit polling in an async environment, not returning a PID or hProcess.

>>The real issue with ShellExecute() per se is the inability to conveniently control the synchronous/asynchronous execution behavior of the processes