You can use a collection to store the names of the files.
Or, use an array, redim it per 100 (or whatever number you want), use a counter, and at the end, redim the array again with the correct number of files (the counter). And you have the number of files too with that counter. If you don't want to store the filenames, but just want to count, you uhmm need the counter.... AFAIK there's no way to get a count (DOS uses a counter internal too).
I'm going to forget... mail me at [email protected] and I'll check my code tonite, I don't understand why you're having problems with refreshing the desktop etc.