I know the pickle you're in, so i'm not gonna say get a real os (that's lame).

What you're looking for is File::FlockDir.

Potential alternatives may be Win32::Semaphore or Win32::Mutex from http://search.cpan.org/author/GSAR/libwin32-0.191/, but I've not investigated (might be worth a look, but i'm happy with File::FlockDir's flock emulation)

Some background at File::DumbLock

MJD says you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo! ** The Third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.