Keep a form 'running' when minimized...

This is probably an easy problem, but I would not be crawling here if I hadn't exhausted myself in the MS docs already:-): I have a single-From application that animates a symbol drawn on a Panel control; once it receives updates online or from the user the symbol moves across the Panel in a manner depending on the input. If there's no input, the symbol my still be required to move at a predictable rate based on the last instruction. My problem is that if a user minimizes the from the variables used to calculate the symbols position on the panel are ignored, the entire thread or thread group for the form seems to be 'asleep'. Now (obviously) if the form is minimized I don't need to repaint() or otherwise update the drawing, but the varibles used to calculate its position do so that when the user calls the form back they see the new position of the symbol, instead of the last one before the form was minimized.. I've tried putting the whole process in a new thread but that doesn't seem to work either. Any suggestions? If someone can point me in the right direction that would probably do. Thanks in advance. Chopin