Take Back Control

I build a system that can call other application like FIFA 2000, Star Craft to run and in the mean time my system will calculate the amount time use. However when they access some of the game and quit, my application didn't take back the control and the game point back to window 98 which window 98 take over the control. Is anything I can do to make my application always on top and not the Windows 98. Or anything that I can do to tell the game to point back to my application when the game exit. Some time when the game exit my application background become smaller, why this happen (my monitor resolution 800 * 600)

[Gen-X]

Windows98 is the operating system and so when games finish running they return control to the operating system... there isn't any way around it.

The main problem here is that the games were not programmed to run from other things other than the operating system and so they ignore the fact your application called it.

As for the reason why your background is smaller regardless of your resolution is that some games run in lower resoltions that your desktop and they actually change the resolution before letting you play... when you first leave the game the last thing they do is try to put that resolution back to what you started with... I have occasionally seen my screen look really huge before it works it out and puts it back to normal.... Perhaps your program is interfering with Windows98 being able to do this

Thank you very much for your reply. How about I put the application into the window registry or do you have any other solution?

Best Regards
Dany

[Gen-X]

Not sure exactly what you mean by "put the program *into* the window's registry".

You can place an entry in the registry that will execute your program upon startup... but thats about all, it wont re-run it if it closes and it wont return control to it when Windows98 gets control back.

Thank again for your reply, Actually my application is running all the time. I use timer to control it and use
ret = Shell( something.exe, 1) to open an exe program.

The application can execute Internet Explorer or win word normally and my application can detect the usage time but when come to game it can not. Any suggestion ?

Best Regards
Dany Ang

[Gen-X]

Like I said before....

Programs like Explorer and Word were designed to run "INSIDE" Windows98 and so they will work very well with your Shell command.

Games however were NOT designed to run within Windows98 and so they basically put the operating system on hold before executing themselves.

This means that even though you used the Shell command to start it off there isn't a Windows Handle to use to determine when it has been closed down because the game doesn't HAVE a window and doesn't BOTHER to communicate with the operating system that say Word or Explorer does.

Does that make it a bit clearer?

I would like to find out how certain anti virus programmes (for example Norton AntiVirus) can be running concurrently even when users are playing games?

Can my programme be configured like that of those anti virus programmes? THat is to say, running at the background even when users are playing games?