>It's probably similar to a "dangling object" in VFP. If you don't do anything with the Excel object, it doesn't create any internal references to anything. If you do something with Excel, it probably makes some internal objects that only a ox.Quit() releases properly.

that makes sense. in which case this proves me wrong also in my statement earlier in this thread, where i thought that 'release oExcel' is something like killing the process in the task manager, because that will destroy excel, no matter what.

well, we never cease to learn.