I am a beginning programmer in VB.NET.  I would like to write a program that
automates my programs.  I want it to run a few programs in order, for
example: run a spyware program, close it.  Then run a registry cleaner and
close it, then anti-virus... etc.  It should also have the ability to send
data from the VB program to input into the other programs if necessary.

I can program in VBA but I don't know much about how to do this.  I've
looked online and in my VB.NET books.  It doesn't even have to be VB.NET --
I would be willing to try Perl, Python, Java if the commands were fairly
straightforward.  I just don't have any idea where to start on this project.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.