James, >Steve Koehler's runs 10x faster. I'll try to speed up mine I wander why Steve's routine cant be applied (incorporated as a kind of "off the shelf" subroutine) directly instead of speeding up yours? I am sure that if this is possible Steve will give all the help needed. Regards Vladimir. Outgoing mail is checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).