Thanks for the replies.
the answers came in almost as soon as I sent the request.
Alex Lee and Stan Grochowski put me right on the configuration setting to make.

Go the eXceed configuration interface  Hummingbird -> EXceed -> Xconfig -> screen definition  (or start Xconfig in the Exceed install directory  [C:|Program Files\Humingbird\Connectivity\7\Exceed in my case]).

In the screen Definition dialog box - under Window Manager - select Native from the listbox (rather than "default to Native") . This made all the difference.

Stan also suggested checking the next box down "Use Native WM for embedded clients".
I tried this as well, but so far cannot detect a difference from the above fix.

bye