Nadya,
I hope it does help those other threads, it might at least give some other things to try.
>Just wanted to say to you, that you're not alone with this problem. On VFP Russian Club I found more than 6 threads on the same topic (e.g. Excel remains in memory/task lisk after loExcel.quit, release loExcel commands were issued). There are several advices were given, but none of them seems bullet proof. May be your solution is the best, who knows...