limit open instances of programs

Hi,

I was just wondering is there a way, maybe in the Registry, to limit open instances of programs such as Word or IE? I have many users who when I come to troubleshoot their computers, they have 20 instances of Word open, 16 instances of IE open and they wonder why their computer is slow, and then you can't tell where the error happened or when it happened. I want to be able to limit the amount of instances of each program they are allowed to open.

Thanks in advance for any help!

~sami

 

Take a look at the following article .....
Avoiding Multiple Instances of an Application
The author provides code for a number of solutions and explains their weaknesses.

 

Thanks for the response, but my problem lies with the programs Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer. I wouldn't be able to modify those programs. I was trying to see if there was a way in windows, maybe in regedit, where you can limit the number of instances allowed, like for example 5 would be a better number than 20.