GENEALOGY COMPUTER SOFTWARE

This page gives a basic introduction into what equipment you need for genealogy. It was prepared for the March 2005 meeting of the NP GCG.

The internet presents some serious risks to internet users. Take the time to learn a bit about these risks, take care when using the internet and implement protection measures on your computer. In general, you will need to be more careful about these risks if you use Microsoft software products.
Malware isn't the only risk - you also need to watch out for scams.


Genealogy Programme

Genealogy software is a specialised database that manages your family history information. It keeps track of information on people, and on relationships between people. This is the central datastore for your genealogy.

Internet Applications

  • Web browser - Firefox, Opera, Internet explorer
  • Email client - Thunderbird, Eudora, Outlook Express, Pegasus
  • Newsgroup client - Thunderbird, FreeAgent, Outlook Express

There are other internet applications you may find useful (such as FTP and IM). Generally these are included with your web browser.

Graphics

This software is used to work with images, such as to view, flip, brighten, convert to another format, resize, etc.

  • Irfanview - flexible viewer (free)
  • GIMP - photo editor and image manipulator (free)
  • Photoshop - photo editor and image manipulator ($1600)

Office Suite

The office suite provides programmes for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and more. These are heavily used in business but are also useful for genealogy. In particular, you will need this software if you want to work with spreadsheets and word processing files.

File Compression

File compression is often used to reduce file size for storage or transfer. You need a utility to compress and extract the files stored in the archive file. There are many file compression programmes available, here are some popular ones for Windows.

PDF Utilities

PDF format is widely used because it is portable across many computer systems. DjVu is a technically superior albeit less common alternative.

Protection

Windows has a number of security issues. To protect your computer, you should install additional software to protect against malware such as viruses, trojans and worms. You should also install tools to protect against spyware, adware and key-loggers.

Other operating systems are generally more resistant to such malware, and have more protection built in. You will still need to take some precautions, but these are specific to the OS.

Read about other stuff you will need for genealogy