driven mad by the message box!

[Peter Alcibiades]

Does anyone know why 

 	put shell()

should bring up the message box, showing the last command exectuted from it 
(and not the command that was executed by the shell() step in the script?

I've been racking my brains for an hour or more, trying just about 
everything I can think of, and nothing will stop the thing.  Well, there is 
one thing that will stop it.  The second time you execute the command, the 
message box closes.  I don't know why it opened, and have even less idea 
why it should then close!

Also, there is a small button or checkbox at the top left of the message 
box.  What is it for?  I can't see that it does anything, but it can 
definitely be checked or unchecked.

Any suggestions most gratefully received.

Peter