Shell program

Shell programs, in Beast Wars, are presumably personality alterations to make a protoform either Maximal or Predacon (BW).

During the entire run of Beast Wars, every Stasis Pod that crashed caused both Megatron (BW) and Optimus Primal to rush to the site. Optimus Primal wanted to securely open the Stasis Pod, release the Maximal Protoform, and allow it to join the Maximals. Megatron wanted to encode it with a Predacon shell program to cause it to be violent, deceptive, and cruel, and therefore ally with him.

In Crossing the Rubicon, the Maximals attempt to remove Blackarachnia's Predacon shell program. This is seen as a strange kind of videogame-style "Search and destroy" mission Rhinox engages in.

During the same episode, Tarantulus explains that he implanted a shell program safeguard, which terminated Blackarachnia. The shell program gone, the Transmetal 2 Driver rebirthed her as a pure Maximal.

It is unknown if there is a Maximal shell program for Predacon protoforms, but it is likely.