"Waterloo MacJANET," a local area network developed by the University of Waterloo for the Apple Macintosh computer, provides an environment appropriate for developing students' computer-related skills, minimizing both the human and the computing resources needed to support such courses. The system also serves as an efficient distributor of a variety of computer files to large numbers of students while providing security and copyright protection. The files contained in the system include application software; course data files; sample programs and data; and files for exercises, assignments, and quizzes. The MacJANET system for these files was specifically designed to alleviate administrative and management problems while furthering the effectiveness of the Macintosh as a teaching tool. The system, which has been found to provide benefits to users, teachers, and administrators, was used by over 1,500 computer literacy course students in its first year. (10 figures) (EW)