Hi everybody,

we all like to play with code...
I've arrived at that:

Option Explicit
' ------------------------------------------------
Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" ( _
   ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetExitCodeProcess Lib "kernel32" ( _
   ByVal hProcess As Long, lpExitCode As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" ( _
   ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, _
   ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long
' ------------------------------------------------------

Public Function ShellX( _
   ByVal PathName As String, _
   Optional ByVal WindowStyle As VbAppWinStyle = vbMinimizedFocus, _
   Optional ByVal Events As Boolean = True _
 ) As Long

 'declarations:
 Const STILL_ACTIVE = &H103&
 Const PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION = &H400&
 Dim ProcId As Long
 Dim ProcHnd As Long

 'Get process-handle:
 ProcId = Shell(PathName, WindowStyle)
 ProcHnd = OpenProcess(PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION, True, ProcId)

 'Wait for prozess-end:
 Do
   If Events Then DoEvents
   GetExitCodeProcess ProcHnd, ShellX
 Loop While ShellX = STILL_ACTIVE

 'clean up
 CloseHandle ProcHnd

End Function
Sub Macro6TripleA()

Dim strA() As String
Dim sTmp As String
Dim vVar As Variant
Dim lTmp As Long
Dim lSec As Long
Dim z As Long
vVar = ShellX("cmd /C systeminfo > c:\test\system.txt")

Open "c:\test\system.txt" For Input As #1
While EOF(1) = False
  Line Input #1, sTmp
  If InStr(sTmp, "Up Time") Then
  ' MsgBox sTmp
     strA() = Split(sTmp, " ")
     GoTo myexit
  End If
Wend
myexit:
Close #1
lSec = 0
For lTmp = 0 To UBound(strA) - 1
  If IsNumeric(strA(lTmp)) Then
     z = z + 1
     Select Case z
     Case 1: lSec = lSec + CLng(strA(lTmp)) * 86400
     Case 2: lSec = lSec + CLng(strA(lTmp)) * 3600
     Case 3: lSec = lSec + CLng(strA(lTmp)) * 60
     Case 4: lSec = lSec + CLng(strA(lTmp))
     End Select
  End If
Next
MsgBox "active for " & CStr(lSec) & " seconds"
End Sub

I've split the string from systeminfo using spaces,
checked whether there were a numerical results in the array,
assuming that there are no such results
but days, hours, minutes and seconds
and added them all.

Have some fun.

Credits to Jost Schwider, http://vb-tec.de/xshell.htm

Ah, 49 days.  Sounds more likely, yeah.  But there's a catch there. <G>  Hint:

  ?49.7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000, 2^32
   4294080000    4294967296

In VB, the return value from GetTickCount "goes negative" at 2^31, which means you
need to twiddle that signbit (add 2^32 if retval < 0) if you want it to make sense.

Another option, although *far* more complicated for nearly any purpose other than
curiosity, would be to query the registry like the Uptime utility does.

  Uptime.exe Tool Allows You to Estimate Server Availability with Windows NT 4.0
SP4 or Higher
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/232243

Where'd you get those numbers?  That doesn't seem to be getting me where I want to
go.  Here's how I typically break down milliseconds into H:MM:SS...

  Public Function FormatHMS(ByVal Milliseconds As Long, Optional ShowDecimal As
Boolean) As String
     Dim Rtn As String
     Dim h As Long, m As Long, s As Long, d As Long

     h = Milliseconds \ 3600000          'hours
     m = (Milliseconds \ 60000) Mod 60   'minutes
     s = (Milliseconds \ 1000&) Mod 60   'seconds
     d = Milliseconds Mod 1000&          'factional seconds

     Rtn = Format$(h, "00") & ":" & _
           Format$(m, "00") & ":" & _
           Format$(s, "00")
     If ShowDecimal Then
        Rtn = Rtn & "." & Format$(d, "000")
     End If
     FormatHMS = Rtn
  End Function

Thanks...   Karl