C#

        Main()
        {
            LaunchThreads(syncNodes); //Usually 2 XML nodes with some basic info like "period" and connection strings etc.
            //Thread.Sleep(-1); //With threads still alive I realised this line wasn't needed as the program will still be executing until all threads are dead (or if published as a task bar type windows app - the app is closed by the user)
        }

        static void LaunchThreads(XmlNodeList syncThreads)
        {
            foreach (XmlNode threadSetting in syncThreads)
            {
                Sync syncThread = new Sync(threadSettings);
                Thread t = new Thread(new ThreadStart(syncThread.Start));
                t.Start();
            }
        }
    }

    public class Sync
    {
        private XmlElement settings; //stores the info for the data transfer, period, connections etc.
        private int period;
        public Boolean interrupt

        public Sync(XmlElement syncSettings)
        {
            settings = syncSettings;
            interrupt = false;
            period = Convert.ToInt16(settings.GetAttribute("period").ToString())*60000;
        }

        public void Start()
        {
            while(!interrupt)
                {
                Execute();
            Thread.Sleep(period); 
                }
        }

        private void Execute()
        {
            //Do the data transfer using the "settings" XmlElement to define which database to connect to etc.
            //I have tried the code with and without the contents of this methods and the results in the private bytes are the same
        }
}

string connectionString = @"Driver={Microsoft dBASE Driver (*.dbf)};DriverID=277;Dbq=c:\employees.dbf;";
    string connectionString = @"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=c:\employees.dbf;Extended Properties=dBASE IV;";
string connectionString = @"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=c:\employees.dbf;Extended Properties=dBASE IV;User ID=Admin;Password=;";

                using (OdbcConnection connection = new OdbcConnection(connectionString))
                {
                    connection.Open();
                }

ERROR [HY024] [Microsoft][ODBC dBase Driver] '(unknown)' is not a valid path.  Make sure that the path name is spelled correctly and that you are connected to the server on which the file resides.
ERROR [IM006] [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Driver's SQLSetConnectAttr failed
ERROR [HY024] [Microsoft][ODBC dBase Driver] '(unknown)' is not a valid path.  Make sure that the path name is spelled correctly and that you are connected to the server on which the file resides.

ERROR [IM002] [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Data source name not found and no default driver specified

DataTable dt_csk = new DataTable("CONTROL_KEYS");
dt_csk.Columns.Add("key", typeof(System.String));
dt_csk.Columns.Add("value", typeof(System.String));

for (idx = 0; idx < dgv_csk.Rows.Count; idx++)
{
    dt_csk.Rows.Add(dgv_csk[0, idx].Value.ToString(), dgv_csk[1,  idx].Value.ToString());                    
}

dt_csk.EndLoadData();
dt_csk.AcceptChanges();
dgv_csk.DataSource = dt_csk.DefaultView;

DataSet ds = new DataSet();
ds.Tables.Add(dt_csk);
ds.Tables.Add(dt_cdk);
ds.Tables.Add(dt_cak);

/* Output the contents of the DataSet as an XML file */
ds.WriteXml(logfile, XmlWriteMode.IgnoreSchema);

XmlDataDocument xmldata = new XmlDataDocument();
xmldata.DataSet.ReadXml(xml_filename);


dgv_csk.DataSource = xmldata.DataSet;

dgv_csk.DataMember = "CONTROL_STATIC_KEYS";