an annoying thing can happen running mplab in animation mode if you have a file open in which you made a modification AND you simulate a program in animated mode AND you close mplab mplab will ask you if you want to save (yes no cancel) and does not respond to whatever you press you can only get out of this by pressing alt f4 or closing the little dialog window, then you can stop the simulation and close mplab. Peter pvh@vertonet.com