thanks strider!!!

1.can u explain...the below code...that you write in sample class

<DllImport("coredll.dll", EntryPoint:="FindWindow")> Private Shared Function FindWindow(ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As IntPtr
End Function

Private Const SHFS_SHOWSTARTICON As Integer = &H10
Private Const SHFS_HIDESTARTICON As Integer = &H20

-- here what is <dllimport > and &H10

2. i want to BEEP or play sound when timer reaches a certain time.. i am using beep function, but no sound is coming... any other alternative to make a big alarm sound.

3. when i use your SHfullscreen functions i can hide START button, but still the VOLUME icon, phone icon, etc are visible in top. how to hide them....the problem is that if we dont hide them, then user can click on them and then we he click the taskbar, the start button is again appearing, which is completly destroying the purpose of using SHFULLSCREEN.

4. i want to store just hour and minute in my database. but if we use date/time datatype, seconds are automatically get 00. however when i convert table into xml, the time is ok, but it is taking as today's date in date portion of variable. i just want hour and minute in my data. .. i also dont want to use string or integer variables...