You don't mention what platform you're on, but here are some alternatives to forking depending on your needs:

If you're on Unix/Linux, and the 'process' you need to start is an external command/program/script, you can just run it in the background using system("$cmd &").

If you're on Windoze, I have heard you can do this to start a program in the background if you don't mind if it has it's own DOS window: system("start $cmd").

Otherwise, use fork, unless you're on Windoze and fork doesn't work there, in which case, look here.

HTH