This is a two-part book. Part One tells how to obtain shareware and how to avoid viruses. Part Two consists of more than 250 reviews, organized by category, of the best shareware programs.

Two diskettes containing six programs are packaged with the book: (1) COMMO, a communications program; (2) LIST, a superb file viewer (as of December 2008, I am still a satisfied user); (3) METZ, a task manager; (4) PKZIP, a popular compression program (as of December 2008, I am still a satisfied user); (5) TREEVIEW, a hard-disk manager; and (6) VIRUSCAN, a virus detector.

My Favorite Chapter. I especially like Chapter 16, "PC/Computing's Ten Top Shareware Picks:" (1) PC-write, a word processor (as of December 2008, I am still a satisfied user); (2) QModem, a communications program; (3) As-Easy-As, a spreadsheet that's as-easy-as 1-2-3; (4) PC-File, a database program (as of December 2008, I am still a satisfied user); (5) Hard Disk Director, a DOS shell program; (6) 4DOS, a general utility program; (7) IconMaster, a Windows utility program; (8) 4Print, a printer program; (9) Commander Keen, a game program; and (10) ZIPKEY, a ZIP Code and Area Code look-up utility program.

Bottom Line. By experience, I learned that the best shareware and public domain software are as good as the best commercial software, and much less expensive. ( )