vb is very easy - its just a matter of learning the function names. however writing a batch file is the easiest - all you need is the names of dos based commands and how to use them which is also easy to find out. most are straightforward and obvious (del = delete so del filename.txt deletes the text file - congrats you can write a batch file) and some are not so. but my recomendation is try either vb or get some good books on c++ and start on that because those for the moment are what the majority of programs are created with. vb will give you an idea of how easy or how hard it can be to code and c++ is the really meaty stuff hat you can progress to if you find vb too easy or limiting.