spawnr spawnr gem--easy spawning for window (i.e. backgrounding them so they don't take up your console) use it like: file named "vi.bat" spawnr "C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" %* see http://betterlogic.com/roger/2014/01/windows-how-to-start-command-and-have-it-not-use-up-the-command-prompt/