Suppress flashing due to shell_exec

On my WinXP Pro system with PHP 5.0.4 CLI
(command line interface), if I do

$ver = shell_exec("ver");

it will return the correct value
(e.g. Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600])
but there will be a flashy thingy on the screen, and
like the guy said in MIB, I don't like flashy thingies.

How can I get that command to run sychronously
without showing me the DOS box (CMD window) that
it uses?  Oh, I should mention that I don't want
to create a (separate) file to do this.

Thanks for any tips,
Csaba Gabor from Vienna