This works on my system as long as I'm not trying to hide a window I'm typing in. Which is pretty useful - I can see STDERR / debugging info if I run the command from a shell, but the window is hidden if launched from explorer / start > run / etc

sub hide_console {
    # Hide the dos window
    require Win32::API;
    my $FreeConsole = new Win32::API('kernel32', 'FreeConsole', [], 'I
+');
    $FreeConsole->Call();
}
[download]

-- simonflk

update: according to MSDN, this should work on Windows 95 and above.