Computer Step publishes a series of brief guides for those who wish to avoid the several hundred page blockbuster manuals which we buy but then never read. They are pitched at beginner and intermediate level, they're simply and clearly written, with plenty of screen shots and marginal tips - and amazingly they manage to get every topic onto exactly a single or double page spread.

This volume starts off with the important point that the Year 2000 bug [Y2K] is not one simple problem. It can affect the hardware BIOS, the operating system, application software, and the data in your system. Austin provides explanations of Statistics, Effects, Strategy, Up-dating, Costs, and Legal Responsibilities - but almost all of these emphasise the effects Y2K might have, when I suspect that most people buying Y2K materials will have only one thing in mind - Solutions. But to be fair, his pitch is that there are no easy solutions, only careful stocktaking and analysis.

He gives serious advice on regular backing up - which made me feel more and more guilty as I read on, and there's a lot of concentration on possible disasters. For instance, BT estimate that avoiding Y2K problems will cost £200M, and Lloyds-TSB bank estimate £100M. The solutions he offers are heavily oriented to consultancy, buying hardware, major re-fixing - though he does squeeze mention of a couple of shareware and freeware programs which might help. If you want to make a living by scaring companies into hiring you as a Y2K advisor - buy this book.

There's some odd language ('a full-blown Y2K consultant') and my confidence was challenged at one point where he speaks of the current period leading up to this cataclysmic date as the 'nineteenth century'. [Shurely shome mishtake!]

It's Chapter 16 before we get round to to a practical test - which turns out to be relatively simple. You can re-set the date and time of your computer to 2000, switch off, then wait five minutes and switch on again. But don't try this at home! - without risking the extinction of software which is time-limited - and that includes programs such as Office 97.