>the ! or RUN command enable vfp to run external programs, but how can vfp determine if an external program is running and how can vfp close it? by exernal program i don't mean just excel or word but e.g.
>c:\winprog\winprog.exe (may not be COM/OLE-compliant) thanks in advance :)

Rather than using the native RUN command, you might try using the API_APPRUN class available for download from here on UT; it permits you to either run something synchronously, so that VFP is paused for the duration of the run, or asynchronously, with VFP and the child app running in parallel; the class permits you to check the progress of the launched app using the CheckTerminationCode() method.