trying to code is a test to see if a program/application is already running

THe best course of action is to use the facilities provided by your application; PCOMMS in this case.

PCOMMS provides a method to return the number of active terminal windows natively. For example:

Sub GetTermCount()

   Dim autECLConnList as Object

   On Error Goto Catch
   Set autECLConnList = CreateObject("PCOMM.autECLConnList")
   autECLConnList.Refresh
   MsgBox "There are " & cStr(autECLConnList.Count) & " terminal sessions running...", vbinformation

Finally:

   Set autECLConnList = Nothing
   Exit sub

Catch:

   MsgBox "ERROR: " & Err.Description & vbCrLf & "Unable to get count of terminal sessions", vbExclamation, "Error"
   Resume Finally

End Sub

Written freehand and untested - PCOMMS not available on an Android tablet

Cytop thank you for pointing out the PCOMM portion I was missing, Used that with what I had and a few changes and boom we have a working line that tests, and logically moves through as required. Thank you to all you for the collaboration

Sub Darkside_Launch()

    Dim x As Variant
    Dim Path As String
    Dim s As New AutSess
    Dim autEclps As Object, autECLConnList As Object
    
        Set autEclps = CreateObject("Pcomm.auteclps")
        Set autECLOIA = CreateObject("Pcomm.autecloia")
        Set autECLConnList = CreateObject("PCOMM.autECLConnList")
        
    autECLConnList.Refresh
    If CStr(autECLConnList.Count) < 1 Then
    GoTo darksiderun
    Else
    If CStr(autECLConnList.Count) = 1 Then MsgBox ("Darkside is already running")
    GoTo VerifyLogin
    End If


darksiderun:
        
    ' Set the Path variable equal to the path of your program's installation
         Path = "Generic.bat"

         x = Shell("Generic", 0)
        
         Application.Wait (Now + TimeValue("0:00:10"))
        
            s.SetConnectionByName ("A")
            s.autEclps.StartCommunication
         If s.autEclps.SearchText("Userid . . . .") Then
            Login.Show vbModeless
            
         End If
        Exit Sub
        
         
VerifyLogin:

    Application.Wait (Now + TimeValue("0:00:05"))
        
            s.SetConnectionByName ("A")
            s.autEclps.StartCommunication
         If s.autEclps.SearchText("Userid . . . .") Then
            Login.Show vbModeless
        Else
            Exit Sub
            
         End If
    
    
End Sub