how do i put a process in the background

sometimes i find myself launching programs from a terminal (terminal emulator, not the real terminal) that need to run while I'm on the computer (such as wvdial).

the problem is that the terminal window must stay open all the time for the program to work.

so my question is how do you put it in the background so i don't have the keep the terminal window open?

[coroner]

You need to fork it to the background first, then use 'disown' which is a bash builtin. The -h option to disown will allow you to close the terminal window without killing the previously owned job.

Make sure you note the job specification number when you fork the application to the background.

your command here->____ &