thanks for the suggestions. Does it work for you? Unfortunately on my system, the first suggestion still results in the subsequent args getting filtered out and the browser only sees the first parameter. Your 2nd suggestion effectively resulted in only 2nd cmd window being displayed.
a new console window opens, with the title http://www.foo.com/cgi-bin/foo.cgi?a=2&b=3
gets opened. This is as designed, as the start command often likely interprets the first argument as the console window title (see the help text as output by help start). OK, I admit, I didn't test it, but you should make sure what you attempt will also give the desired result.