G'day VinsWorldcom,

I got the same as you for 'assoc' and 'ftype' in cmd.exe:

C:\Users\ken\tmp>assoc | find /i "perl"
.pl=Perl_program_file

C:\Users\ken\tmp>ftype | find /i "Perl_program_file"

C:\Users\ken\tmp>
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In the registry, I have exactly the same as you (except I have C:\Users\ken\local\opt\strawberry_perl\5_030_000\install instead of your C:\Strawberry).

In your PowerShell output, you show everything output to the PowerShell, instead of the commands starting with perl being output in a separate window. Did you do something else to achieve that?

In cmd.exe, I get much the same as you:

C:\Users\ken\tmp>perl .\test_platform.pl
Platform: MSWin32
Executable: C:\Users\ken\local\opt\strawberry_perl\5_030_000\install\p
+erl\bin\perl.exe
Enter to close window:

C:\Users\ken\tmp>.\test_platform.pl
Platform: MSWin32
Executable: C:\Users\ken\local\opt\strawberry_perl\5_030_000\install\p
+erl\bin\perl.exe
Enter to close window:

C:\Users\ken\tmp>perl test_platform.pl
Platform: MSWin32
Executable: C:\Users\ken\local\opt\strawberry_perl\5_030_000\install\p
+erl\bin\perl.exe
Enter to close window:

C:\Users\ken\tmp>test_platform.pl
Platform: MSWin32
Executable: C:\Users\ken\local\opt\strawberry_perl\5_030_000\install\p
+erl\bin\perl.exe
Enter to close window:

C:\Users\ken\tmp>
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So, the answer to Question 1 seems to be to remove the

if ($^O eq 'MSWin32') {
    print 'Enter to close window: ';
    <>;
}
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and run all scripts from "cmd.exe".