The product I'm reviewing is VB Help Writer Pro by Teletech Systems. This software came with a well-done, 100-page manual with plenty of illustrations. The cover states that this software is "The Power Tool for VB help files." Not having any experience writing help files, other then throwing together an HTML file and bundling it with my software, I figured I needed all the help I could get with this project.

I found the "Quick Start" section of the manual to be very helpful in establishing familiarity with the program in rapid fashion. My ability to write help files is rudimentary at best, but with VB Help Writer, the help file I just finished working on looks quite professional. The program scans your source code to create a help framework, and then you are given the opportunity to select the forms and controls in your project that you want a help topic on. Then you just add your help text and graphics and press one button to compile it all. In doing these simple steps, you have created a help file.

VB Help Writer Pro can be used as a standalone help file editor. The software also has the ability to imbed the graphics and sound files into the help file. You can also add Macros to perform whatever task is available. I inserted a Macro to make a hyperlink to my Web site. Just like the Internet, you click on the hyperlink and your web browser starts up and sends you to the Web site. Nothing could be easier!

There are other uses besides creating help files that are possible with this creative tool. For instance, you can write a manual for your software in RTF format that you can even export to HTML files (graphics and all).

All in all, this is a must-buy product. For what you are able to do with this software, nothing currently comes close. The suggested retail for the full 32-bit version as reviewed is $119, and worth every cent. If you order online and pick electronic delivery, you can get it for $89. Now that's a deal!

I heartily rate this as a buy for anyone wanting to create professional-looking help files.

My desk is littered with business cards, Post-It notes, newspaper articles, receipts and assorted other scraps of paper intended to help me remember phone numbers, events, to-do items and passwords, as well as user names, install codes and lots of other items. I don't always need the information with me, so I'm still resisting the Palm Pilot. In fact, I'm the kind of person Personal Information Manager (PIM) programs were invented for. But despite trying out several different programs, I'm still surrounded by paper.

There are lots of useful tools for collecting notes, and tons of scheduling calendars and address databases, but Info Select just might be the tool that moves all that information from paper into my computer. It's an extremely flexible, yet quite powerful, program for storing and retrieving all kinds of information.

It takes some time to master the program because there's so much available in it, but you can start out just saving notes in a simple outline format. The Info Select screen is divided into two windows. Down the left side of the screen is the Selector, an expandable tree that functions like an outline. On the right side of the screen is the Workspace, a large area for entering notes and information.

But Info Select also includes databases, which are completely configurable. A name and address database is included, but you can design your own data records and input forms that hold just about any information you want. And there's also a calendar, which I haven't mastered yet. I'd like to use it as a record of work done, and not just as an appointment calendar, but haven't yet figured out that part.

One nice feature puts an icon, a lightning flash, on the Windows task bar. If you highlight something in a document (e.g., a quotation or an Internet address) and click the icon, it immediately transports the information to Info Select and saves it for you.

There is also a Folders tool in Info Select, which allows you to organize information basically in two ways. You can, for example, have a topic for each employee in your department, and a project folder for each project (projects show up on the project toolbar). You can pull up all the related project information just by clicking on the project, or the employee information by clicking on the employee.

But even if you enter information fairly randomly, as I tend to do, and don't get around to organizing it quite the way you'd like, Info Select's search tool is very effective and blazingly fast. Press F5, type in a search term and the Selector (the left side of the screen) is immediately filtered down to the entries that include your search term. You can color-code items to make them easier to see, and you can search by colors.

If you like, you can use Info Select as your email reader (with multiple email accounts) and integrate it with Microsoft Exchange and Internet Explorer. As a devoted user of Netscape and Eudora Pro, I've gone another route and chosen to just mark information and paste it into Info Select. It's easily retrievable using the search tool, which frankly works better than Eudora's.

You can create form letters and merge with addresses, print to Avery labels, email a list of people without showing all the addresses to each addressee, enter or view information in a grid format, print in multiple columns and set reminder ticklers on the calendar. You can even set up shared files on a network and use the program for internal e-mail and calendaring operations.

What it comes down to is that you can put just about any kind of information into Info Select and get it back whenever you need it, at the click of a button. It's the best I've seen for this kind of work.

If I later decide to go to the Palm Pilot, Micro Logic has announced that a version for the Palm Pilot is well under way, and applications from prospective beta testers are welcome.

Info Select has won the Editors' Choice award twice from PC Magazine and has received positive reviews from many other magazines and users.