thanks tempest! this is a little weird. for future pinball, the only difference is one instance of "future pinball.exe" running. but, if i "alt+tab" to cycle thru open programs, there are TWO processes of FP running, one is titled with just the app name, the other is titled with the table that i loaded. for amiga, same thing, one instance of "winUAE.exe" running. but "alt+tab" cycling reveals there is something opened called "form1". tempest, with all sincerity, this app closed a HUGE gap in the way i wanted my machine to run, a BIG THANK YOU. now if i can just figure out why "mamewah" isn't sending the "taskill pause", i'd be golden! thank you again so much!