Windows 98, Excel 2002. Haven't a clue if this is possible!

As it stands now, a legacy DOS program runs its course in a window,
then the window closes when it's done.

I am in the process of eliminating this program. There is quite a bit
of data, and I can only retrieve one item at a time without having to
restart the DOS program.

1) Can I start a DOS Window from VBA...
2) ...and if so, can I check to see the state of the DOS window (ie,
is it active, does it have the focus, is still open, even is it
minimized, and even ensure there's only one instance running)?

No need to answer this next part, but if I am asking a simple question
in the first place....

What I am dreaming about is cranking up a macro, launching the DOS
window with the right parameter, pipe the output of the batch file
into the spreadsheet, check to see if the windows open, and if so,
kill it, then loop all over again. Once I gather the data, I put it
into a real application, (i.e., DATABASE).

God help me.