Nearly 5,000 shareware programs are made available for trying before "purchase," which consists of sending in registration and a small fee to the creator. The programs are arranged in 24 categories normally found on bulletin board systems games, education, editors, business/home, word processing, sound/music, graphics, among others. An upgrade will be issued every six months, available at a discount to registered purchasers of the CD-ROM. The audience includes those who want an abundant supply of programs to pick from for their personal or business computers and those who want something to put up on a bulletin board. Installation and access to lists of programs is simple. Printing out the lists as well as 100 pages of "Test Drive" documentation is possible, but not essential, if the goal is simply to download some programs; however, it is essential to know what to key in so that the compressed programs are unzipped (make a directory and then: file name pk unzip directory name). Orders can be placed by calling (800) 999-9619. After August 13, the price goes up to $179. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.