1. Family Tree Maker 2009

2. Family Tree Maker One of many Genealogy programs available Allows you to record your family history information electronically Makes it much easier to keep track of everyone once you get more than a handful of people in your file Makes it simple to share your information with others

3. Why Family Tree Maker? Has been around a long time Has gone through many upgrades Has had good reviews Is widely used Latest revision in 2009 was a radical re-vamping of the user interface

4. Price & Availability Available from Best Buy and Staples Available on-line at prices ranging from $70 to $48.48

5. Main Screen

6. Main Components

11. The Index list

12. Whenever you add someone to your file, they get sorted into the Index automatically. This helps identify possible duplicates immediately.

13. The Index list

14. The Pedigree pane

20. The Family pane

23. The Personal Info pane

25. The Really Personal Info pane

26. The Places window

27. The Media window

28. The Sources window

29. The Publish window

30. The Web Search window

31. The Plan window

32. Conclusion The 2009/2010 version of FTM is way better than the previous interface, although for those familiar with the older version it is not an easy transition. My advice: persevere. It will be worth the effort.