If you want to extend the use of your BBC, Squirrel Software's Moneywise is a home accounting system which goes further than most. It includes an annual summary facility and produces bar charts which can be dumped to printer and disk.

Here And There With The Mr. Men contains four programs designed to teach direction and route-planning.

Preparing for winter? Then you might try Polar Perils. Adrift on an ice floe, you must spear the ravenous Polar Bear before screen two.

It's good to see Mastertronic turning out games for the BBC, not just because BBC games tend to be costly, but also because new releases for Auntie's micro are dropping off these days.

Challenger is pretty simple: destroy all aliens and things called Quads, don't run out of fuel and warp out when in trouble.

Invest £14.99 in Spirit Of The Stones and you could be on target for a cool million pounds. The program/book package could give you a head start in the treasure hunt based in the Isle of Wight. But don't dig out your space, this one's an armchair job. The program consists of fairly straightfoward arcade-type games, but gives you clues to riddles in the book.

Those who work out the locations of some 40 diamonds on the island can claim from Commodore their share of the royalty fund, made up from 50p for each program sold.

Commodore has also just released a neat music package, Music Maker, complete with piano overlay. While it may lack the sophistication of products such as Musicalc, it will give notices hours of entertainment, and extends the range of the use of the machine.

Cuthbert fans will welcome Microdeal's Cuthbert Enters The Tombs Of Doom, with over 200 screens, weird beasts and prizes to be won.

Select 1 should interest new C64 owners as it's a compilation of a dozen chart-toppers from yesteryear, and at £12.49 is a real bargain.

If you've ever seen Jet Boot Jack on the Atari, you'll run out and buy English Software's new release. Henry's House looks good on paper and we'll be reviewing it soon.

Tazz is not for the claustrophobic. Armed with a gun you find yourself in a room whose walls are closing in. Blast the nasties and move to the next, harder, diminishing location.

Gala-File is a spin-off from a C64 user's group. It's a cassette-based database which handles up to 1,000 records with 100 user-definable fields.

Sort and re-sort are catered for and there are four independent search levels and password protection.

Power Software is definitely a name to watch. All its games we've seen have been well above average, and Catwalk and Billy Bluebottle are no exception. In Catwalk, you take Snooky the cat out for a stroll in search of food. The animation's superb; you'll almost believe the Spectrum has sprites. We'll be reviewing it soon. Billy Bluebottle is a supernormal insect, and while the graphics don't match Catwalk, the game is fiendishly difficult. Your task is to rescue fellow houseflies from grisly fates in the domestic environment, such as flyspray, flaypaper, being crushed in the lift, and so on.

Atram is a new idea: it's a computer mediated board game, which is partly why the game's so pricey. For your £19.95 you get a high-quality colour game board and magnetic pieces. Two players take the part of the Royal Navy slamming it out with the US marines, and the Spectrum keeps the score, calculates damage, etc.

If you've ever wanted to be everybody's favourite person, Fahrenheit 3000 should appeal. It's one of those near-impossible Jet Set Willy games. Your mission is to prevent the Winfrint nuclear reactor from melting down - leap the nasties, collect the power packs (when they're red), make it to the 64th screen and pull the switch. Fame and glory will be yours, as well as a mystery prize, if you can solve a puzzle after all that.

Sports games aren't quite dead and in the aftermath of the Olympics, Melbourne House has brought out Sports Hero. Taking a different line from most sports games this year, you must progress from local sports fanatic, to university scholarship, finally winning a place in the Olympic team if you're up to it.

Lancelot will be reviewed shortly. First impressions are that it's a Manic Miner variation, very well done.