> but as well I have 4 (Identical) exe's running at the console which check a set of tables and run reports. I wonder if two of these report exe's (really just a normal VFP app) were both to be executing code at the same time, would they each use their own CPU?

Yes, they would. Even though each process is only allowed one thread, if you have multiple process, then they'll use multiple processors. Even if you only had one VFP process, I maintain that you would benefit, just not as greatly. While VFP ties up one CPU, the OS would have use of the other, or vice versa. I love my HyperThreaded desktop for just that reason. I can kick VFP into some CPU-intensive task for a test, and still be able to read email. :-)