A query execution process that improves performance. Visual FoxPro executes a query and fetches a small subset of the result set rows into the local cursor. The default size of this subset is 100 rows. If your connection is operating in asynchronous mode, Visual FoxPro returns control to you or your program as soon as it fetches the first subset of data. During idle time, Visual FoxPro performs a background fetch of the remaining rows in the queried data, one subset at a time, into the local cursor. This scenario allows you to use the already fetched data in the cursor without having to wait for the rest of the data.