Another year, another version of Money and Microsoft has to address the paradox once again - when you're selling a simple piece of software and you got it right so many versions ago, how are you going to persuade the punters to come back?

For existing Money users there is little point in making the upgrade. But let's assume you're an absolute beginner. Packages such as Money score because most of us are hopeless with our finances, so they help you not just with budgeting but in tidying our affairs into one neat pile. You'll gain a snapshot of your overall financial position and, more importantly, how to improve your situation.

Most of the hard work needs to be done before you even slide the CD into your PC. You'll need to clear a big space on your desk and get together bank statements, wage slips, direct debits, loan repayments, pension and mortgage information - the lot. Money is going to demand you create an account for every financial commitment. It's a painful but useful exercise. First, it forces you to take control and secondly, after it's done, maintaining things becomes straightforward.

Once everything has been entered you'll find the Money homepage is a model of organisational simplicity. Your accounts are displayed alongside reports (you can display cash-flow projections, projected balances and so forth, in an attractive medley of bar and pie charts), and links to worksheets and online resources.

The software is firmly tied to the web and has links to very good online resources. Money will continually skip you to the Money website where you'll find help on writing a will, calculating your pension, deciding whether to remortgage, learning about ways to manage debt - and much more. There's even a link to Experian, which lets you check your credit rating easily.

As you start putting all your information together for the first time you begin to wonder why you have £100 in a low-interest account when it could be better spent paying off that credit card bill. You begin to anticipate bills before they arrive and avoid bank overdraft charges. Most of all, Money removes surprises- lovely things for birthdays and Christmas, but not when it comes to your financial affairs.

Money is, as ever, very proud of its ability to import statements from online banking organisations. Let's qualify this - everything's fine if you bank with Barclays or HSBC say, but not if you bank with Virgin One. You end up manually updating the ins and outs of your current account, which takes discipline and commitment, when you can simply bank online.

This time, Money comes in two versions: Standard and Financial Suite. The latter includes TaxSaver 2003 - a good package that will make compiling your tax return a good deal simpler. It also includes a very good paper manual but it rankles that this isn't included with Standard. Money does a great job of managing your cash flow. It's tried and tested and there's great online support. But if you already own Money, we'd advise you to stick with your current version, as there isn't enough extra here to make you shell out again.

Contact: Microsoft 0870 601 0100
www.microsoft.co.uk