Program 1: Heating

Purpose is to estimate the cost of heating your home. It takes into consideration eight different types of heating system, the temperature and time duration required, and a fairly detailed definition of the house.

Before running it you need to arm yourself with a large number of facts (detailed in the accompanying book) such as the cost of various fuels, the area of your floors, windows, roof and construction.

As most households are heated by more than one source, and the program only offers a single option system, the results obtained are bound to be inaccurate.

From my household calculations the program over-estimated by £12 a month.

After the initial result has been attained you can alter the fuel/hours/temperature and quickly see what the net effect would be.

It would have been nice if single/double glazing and draughty/not draughty options had also been included in this list.

I found the initial question and answer system very offputting in that there was a constant screen full of text as the program scrolled forever onwards. (And why should Yes or No be answered by typing 1 or 2?)

Program 2: Rent/Buy

This enables you to compare the costs involved in renting an item as opposed to an outright purchase, over a period of five years. It does not facilitate credit purchases, or items where tax relief may be gained.

Within the calculation it does take into consideration such things as the rate of inflation, rate of lost interest, annual service contracts and the secondhand resale value.

The initial questions were asked in a scrolling screen mode and the results table was reasonably presentable after jumping its way to the top of the screen.

However my copy of the program contained a mathematical error within the rental calculation (a TV rented at £180 per year for five years would have cost £2,470!)

Program 3: Borrowing

The intention of this program is to help you select a suitable source from which to borrow money.

You can borrow up to £999,999 with repayments at any one of five methods per year (weekly, monthly, etc).

Repayment period, rate of interest and tax relief are all taken into consideration.

The results are tabled, showing how much it will really cost you and the effective interest rate after tax relief, if applicable.

Not an inspiring program, the maths is pretty basic, but no doubt included in the package for completeness.

Program 4: Saving

This program attempts to show the interest you will acquire when saving either a lump sum of money or by regular payments.

It shows a fairly wide cross-section of options and takes into account tax and inflation rates.

You will have to keep changing the interest rates to keep up to date, as the program starts with a set from last year.

Again the screen scrolled on, but for a brief moment you do get a second colour.

Summary

My initial enthusiasm when presented with this impressive package rapidly evaporated due to the unimpressive screen usage and program discrepancies.

I feel, as both a householder and home economics teacher (covering these subjects), that the package falls somewhat short of value for money.

Margaret Turnbull