sub start_child
{ my $Cmd        = $_[0];
  my $CmdOptions = $_[1];
  my $ChildProc;
  my $ChildPid;

  die "cannot execute cmd: $Cmd" unless (-x "$Cmd");
  require Win32::Process;
  Win32::Process::Create($ChildProc, $Cmd, $CmdOptions, 0, 0, ".") || confess "Could not spawn child: $!";
  $ChildPid = $ChildProc->GetProcessID();

  # catch early child exit, e.g. if program path is incorrect
  sleep(1.0);
  POSIX::waitpid(-1, POSIX::WNOHANG()); # clean up any defunct child process
  if (kill(0,$ChildPid))
  { print "Started child process id $ChildPid\n";
  }
  else
  { warn "Child process exited quickly: $Cmd: process $ChildPid";
  }
  return $ChildPid;
}


$ChildPid = start_child($Cmd1, $Cmd1Options);
sleep(5.0);
$ChildPid = start_child($Cmd2, $Cmd2Options);