Using PHP to execute system commands on Win 98 w/apache

I have been trying to figure out how to execute commands on a win 98 system with php and apache. exec(), system(), and shell_exec() seem to work when i try to execute a command (such as "netstat -n" or "dir") because I can see the ms-dos window open on the system, run the command, and then close. However, the php web page fails to ever finish loading. When using the system() command, the output of the command (at least *some* of the output) appears on the web page, but fails to stop trying to load. With the other two commands, no data appears on the web page and the pages endlessly continue to try and load (wait for a reply) even though the ms-dos window has come and gone. advise? thank you. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free http://sbc.yahoo.com