MENUS

No way I know of to get rid of it; it's not "added to compiled FB apps", but added to _everything_; but you can prevent having _two_ "Help" menus (assuming your program has it's own) by adding on to Apple's if it exists;

LONG IF SYSTEM(_sysVers) > 799
  REM Put Help in the Help menu
  osErr% = FN HMGETHELPMENUHANDLE(mhdl&)
  LONG IF osErr% = _noErr
    CALL DELETEMENU(5) 'the menu we'd use if this wasn't OS8
    FOR ItemID% = 1 TO 5
      MenuText$ = STR#(_menuStr,ItemID%)
      IF mhdl& <> 0 THEN CALL APPENDMENU(mhdl&,MenuText$)
    NEXT ItemID%
    SearchHelp$ = STR#(_menuStr,1)
    FOR ItemID% = 1 TO 8
      CALL GETITEM(mhdl&,ItemID%,MenuText$)
      LONG IF MenuText$ = SearchHelp$
        iIntro% = ItemID%
        ItemID% = 9
      END IF
    NEXT ItemID%
  END IF
  helpMenu% = _KHMHelpMenuID
  iBasics% = iIntro% + 1
  iSetPrefs% = iBasics% + 1
  iAboutGames% = iSetPrefs% + 1
  iPerfInterp% = iAboutGames% + 1
XELSE
  REM Put Help in it's own menu
  helpMenu% = 5
  iIntro% = 1
  iBasics% = 2
  iSetPrefs% = 3
  iAboutGames% = 4
  iPerfInterp% = 5
  MENU helpMenu%,_resMenu,_enable
END IF

No need to check for System 8; just use the OS's help menu, and it will appear in the right place under System 7 or 8.

LOCAL FN insertHelpItem
  DIM helpItem$, myErr, mHndl&

  helpItem$ = "My application help"
  LONG IF SYSTEM(_sysVers) > 699 'System 7 or later? - Put it in the Help menu.
    myErr = FN HMGETHELPMENUHANDLE(mHndl&)
    LONG IF myErr = _noErr
      LONG IF mHndl&
        CALL APPENDMENU(mHndl&,helpItem$)
      END IF
    END IF
  XELSE 'System 6 or earlier, put it in the Apple menu
    mHndl& = FN GETMHANDLE(_appleResMenu)
    LONG IF mHndl&
      CALL INSMENUITEM(mHndl&,helpItem$,1)
    END IF
  END IF
END FN

Thanks. This shows me how to insert the menu item. Great! Now, what numbers (menu number and item number) do I look for in the menu events?

Don't look for menu number and item number, since you don't know them. (The item could be in the Apple menu or Help menu, and is in a undetermined position on either menu.)
I look for the menu item name. In PG, it's as simple as :

' ============================ 
"Action : Menu"
' - 
LONG IF gItemName$ = "My application help"
  FN openHelp
END IF

If you aren't using PG : 

itemName$  = FN pGgetItemName$(MENU(_menuID),MENU(_itemID))
LONG IF itemName$ = "My application help"
  FN openHelp
END IF

When you define your menu, add this (where tmp$ is your help statement):

'======================
'------------- attach Balloon Help ---------------
'======================

LOCAL FN attachBalloonHelp(tmp$)
  DIM helpMHndl&
  DIM osErr
  DIM mHndl&

  LONG IF SYSTEM (_sysVers) > 699
    osErr = FN HMGETHELPMENUHANDLE (helpMHndl&)
    LONG IF osErr = _noErr
      IF helpMHndl& <> 0 THEN CALL APPENDMENU (helpMHndl&, tmp$)
    END IF
  XELSE
    mHndl& = FN GETMHANDLE (_appleResMenu)
    IF mHndl& <> 0 THEN CALL INSMENUITEM (mHndl&, "HelpŠ/H", 1)
  END IF
  CALL DRAWMENUBAR

END FN

---

Then you can get the user's action by using (the constant is important!):

SELECT gWhichMenu
  CASE _kHMHelpMenuId                             'system 7.0 Balloon Help menu
    FN yourHelpWnd                                'your help routine

Excellent Ted but I have a few more questions My other menus are in resedit so I set up the extra help menus by adding these couple of lines in a setup function, which adds the menu items as you suggested.

  tmp$ = "Computer Manager Help"
  FN attachBalloonHelp(tmp$)
  tmp$ = "About Computer Manager"
  FN attachBalloonHelp(tmp$)

Now, how do I make those menus work with my menu handler?

LOCAL FN doMenus
  menuID = MENU(_menuID)
  itemID = MENU(_itemID)
  SELECT menuID
        CASE _kHMHelpMenuId                           'system 7.0 Balloon Help menu
            LONG IF SYSTEM (_sysVers) > 699
               'FN yourHelpWnd                              'your help routine

               BEEP
            END IF
        CASE 127                                                'apple menu
          LONG IF SYSTEM (_sysVers) < 700
             SELECT itemID
               CASE 1
                  'help
                  FN cmhelp
               CASE 2
                  'about Rush
                   FN Rush
             END SELECT
          END IF

Try this:

LOCAL FN doMenus
  menuID = MENU(_menuID)
  itemID = MENU(_itemID)
  SELECT menuID
        CASE _kHMHelpMenuId                           'system 7.0 Balloon Help
            LONG IF SYSTEM (_sysVers) > 699

' --- insert this code here
    osErr%=FN HMGETHELPMENUHANDLE(HelpMHndl&)
    LONG IF osErr% = _noErr
      CALL GETITEM(HelpMHndl&,itemID,tmp$)
      LONG IF tmp$ = "Computer Manager Help"
        FN cmhelp
      XELSE
        IF tmp$ = "About Computer Manager" THEN FN Rush
      END IF
    END IF
' --- end of inserted code

            END IF
        CASE 127                                                'apple menu
          LONG IF SYSTEM (_sysVers) < 700
             SELECT itemID
               CASE 1
                  'help
                  FN cmhelp
               CASE 2
                  'about Rush
                   FN Rush
             END SELECT
          END IF

You can get the item number using the normal MENU(_itemID) function. The catch is, since you have added items to the _bottom_ of the Help menu, you have to know how many items were above yours before you added your items. Usually (on my machine, anyway) there are 4 items above my app's items (they are "About balloon help...", "Show balloons", plus 2 dividing lines), so the first item I add is usually item #5. To take the guesswork out of this, you should get a count of the existing items _before_ you add any:

OSErr = FN HMGETHELPMENUHANDLE(hmHandle&)
hmItemCount = FN COUNTMITEMS(hmHandle&)  'items above mine

The first item you add will have an item number equal to hmItemCount+1; the next will be hmItemCount+2, and so on.