Well I did come up with something that seems to work fairly well but if the window is minimized it does not set the focus on it.. other than that it does everything I want it to do... the code goes as follows
Sub UseExplorer()
Dim sw As Object, ie As Object
Set sw = CreateObject("Shell.Application").Windows
Dim FoundIE As Integer
FoundIE = 0
For Each ie In sw
If FoundIE = 1 Then
ie.navigate Site
Exit Sub
Else
'distinguish Internet Explorer from Windows Explorer
If InStr(UCase(ie.FullName), "\IEXPLORE.EXE") <> 0 Then
FoundIE = FoundIE + 1
If ie.hwnd = 3540814 Then
FoundIE = 0
Else
ShowWindow ie.hwnd, 2
ShowWindow ie.hwnd, 4
SetActiveWindow ie.hwnd
ie.navigate Site
End If
End If
End If
Next
If FoundIE = 0 Then
Set ie = CreateObject("internetexplorer.application")
ie.Visible = True
ie.navigate Site
End If
End Sub
if you have any suggestions let me know...