Two ways. Change your backticks command to

1. system q[start http://ourserver];.

   This will launch their default browser, whichever that is, and won't block.

   Or just a new tab in the existing running instance.

2. system 1, q["C:\\PATH\\IEXPLORE.EXE"  http://ourserver];

   This won't block either, but will start a new instance of that specific browser, if it happens to be installed, regardless of what the user prefers.

I've don't really do windows gui stuff, so have no idea how to persue this. Have any monks got an pointers?

Tip: Don't even consider using fork on Win32 until you are aware of how it differs from the same call on *nix.