Merry Christmas Eve! Anyway, I've been working on a project based in Excel
that calls WhatsBest!, a linear programming add-in. The procedure is as
follows: a) import data into spreadsheet from Access, b) call WhatsBest, c)
export results to another output database.

It loops 4 weeks per month, for a total of 48. After between 4 and 6 months
of looping through the calendar year I get an error where the data cannot be
written to the output database. After stopping the code I look in the Task
Manager and see one instance of Excel. So, I kill it and the window goes
away. But there still is an instance of Excel on the Task Manager. It
wasn't there before I killed the application (i.e., there weren't 2
instances), as I sorted first alphabetical.

One thing I know about WhatsBest is that it creates a duplicate copy of the
excel worksheet for its modeling purposes. It creates a number of files in
the working directory that it uses, including an excel file. Once it's done
its thing it copies the solution data back to the original spreadsheet and
closes. So, I believe WhatsBest is creating the "phantom" excel instance.
In fact, sometimes I see a second Excel on the task bar (but not most of the
time).

I've tried many things, such as having the VB wait after WhatsBest finishes
its thing for excel to recalculate (given it up to 1 minute to do what takes
probably 5-10 seconds). I've also had the VB code wait until the Whatsbest
files no longer reside in the root directory. To no avail.

Any suggestions would be VERY welcome.

Thanks in advance
pwreconomist