I'm not sure I know what you mean by a QB compiler. I have used (and continue to use) both the QBasic interpreter, that comes free with later versions of BASIC, and the QuickBasic compiler, which was a separate, stand alone purchase, and a full compiler. QBasic is an Interpreter that runs *.bas files the same way that a Perl interpreter runs scripts, which is a line at a time, when they are called, without any compilation. QuickBasic can also run scripts in this manner. It is also a full compiler and linker, and can produce *.obj and *.exe files. When compiling, you get to choose whether you want the file compiled to stand alone, or to use the brun.exe and brun.lib runtime modules, which are part of the package, and really speed up a program. I have compiled the same programs, first to use brun.exe, and then to be stand alone, and the stand alone versions are a lot bigger, and a lot slower (this is especially noticeable in graphics shows, like fractal displays). Of course, if you are going to run the brun version of the program, the brun files have to be on the computer, so it is nice for utilities you are running on your own box, but not much use, for exporting to other computers. -wittig http://www.robertwittig.com/ A business is as honest as its advertisements. .