Hi folks you are right! it wasn't a "for:next" (which takes about 4 secs, as i checked) it was something like (I haven't saved it): 1 print "#" 10 I=1 20 i=i+1 30 if i > 3000 then 50 40 goto 20 50 print"#" (it now takes about 25 sec) I'm sorry to have confused you, it was not intentionally! Michael