To open an excel file (.xls) on Win32, without blocking the script, try this: 
use strict;
use Win32::Shell;

#Win32::Shell::Execute(Operation, File, Parameters, Directory, ShowCmd
+)

my $file="C:\\windows\\desktop\\file.xls";
Win32::Shell::Execute("open", "$file", 1, undef, "SW_SHOW");

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Update: added code tags, larsen

In reply to Re: system() on linux/win32 by dree
in thread system() on linux/win32 by NaSe77

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