Just an idea ........

.... how hard would it be to have a spinning line in a panel of a status bar ?

I'm rubbish at all the graphical stuff, so have no idea where to start really.

Would it be easier to try and track down an animated gif and lay it on the top when needed, or use the / | \ -- lines on the keyboard with a timer ?

Or shall I just not bother trying to be clever :p

Actually, it all depends on your preference. If you want less component, then you use the generic lines with timer. Otherwise to add a Animated Gifs requires you to include GIF8a.DLL in your project.

Cheers,
Chris