It comes on two CD’s and a full installation will take around 30 minutes on a fastish machine, I was 1.3GB of hard disk down after the install. One little niggle the progress bar gets to around 90% done after around five minutes, this leads you to think the PC has locked up as the files it is copying are large so little name activity is occurring.

Unlike the recently reviewed 2006 version this only contains the adult version, you will also find somewhat less pictures and a lot less video. On that subject I was a little peeved to have to download a copy of Quick Time to run the video, surely this should have been on the CD’s?

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Using Niagara Falls as an example again there were 4410 articles, 13 images and 1 video, the 2006 version has 5424, 38 and 9. Should you want a lot of graphics and video then the DVD version in 2006 is perhaps the way to go.

Should you want just the facts rather like the world famous book versions then provided you are happy to forgo all the really up to date info then this could be the answer at a lot less cash.

Certain facts are unlikely to change who discovered America, the first man on the Moon etc. However others may well do such as the fastest this and the biggest that.

Having recently used the new improved interface from the 2006 version it is harder to relate to the standard interface still used in this 2005 version. Just like magazines the cover (year) date is not that accurate as 2007 will normally be available in early autumn.

So what is in the 2005 package? In comes in a DVD case with two CD’s you need to input a sixteen digit serial number during the 9 part install all but around a minute is spent on the installation of files. There are 43,502 articles, 7,602 photos and illustrations and 1,562 maps within the World Atlas.

You also get the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus that contains over 555,000 entries, 215,000 in the Dictionary and 340,000 in the Thesaurus. Both are accessible from within the Encyclopaedia.

The CD’s contain both the PC and Mac versions. The PC will run on Windows 98SE or later with a minimum of 256MB RAM and 350MB of hard disc but this will require that the CD’s are always available when in use. A 350MHz processor and 800x600 screen resolution in 16bit colours complete the requirements.

No mention is made of updates but when you register you are entitled to 90 days user of Britannica online and this of course will be bang up to date.

Focus products are available from dealers of direct from http://www.focusmm.co.uk/store/productpages/productinfo/ess617.html at £9.99 it has to be good value with the proviso that it will not be completely up to date.