*** G e n S m a r t s N e w s l e t t e r ***

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Tuesday, November 18, 2003 Contents

• Product News

• Online Research Tip

• GenSmarts Usage Tip

• PC Utility Tip

• PC Trivia

*** P r o d u c t N e w s ***

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Current "Production" Version: 1.0.3.10 :

We've started keeping a version history and maintaining a link to the full "registered" version install at http://www.gensmarts.com/versionHistory.asp So if you're ever wondering what the latest version is or if you ever need to download the latest "registered" version, you can do so from that link. The latest trial version is always at http://www.gensmarts.com/download.asp We'll likely add something in the GenSmarts HELP menu in an upcoming version to get you this info as well, but for now, you can use these web links. With the exception of a few bug fixes here and there, this version (1.0.3.10) should pretty much wrap up our efforts for Version 1.0.3, where our goal was to expand the number of file formats we supported and to add support for census events (to avoid suggesting census research you've already recorded). As a reminder we currently can access the following formats directly - Gedcom, Family Tree Maker, Legacy, PAF, TMG 4 & 5, and RootsMagic. If you use a different system that you'd like to see us add support for - drop us an email and let us know.

Due to a few customer requests, we've created a manual for the software. The content is pretty much the same as the help file, though it has an index, and is formatted for printing. It's downloadable and you'll find a link on the versionHistory.asp page mentioned above.

Upcoming Enhancements:

We have a number of new and exciting enhancements under way. We're not quite ready to talk about all of them yet, but one that we hope to have ready for beta soon is our support for England, Canada, and Australia research (perhaps Scotland, Ireland, and New Zealand as well...) - this will be our goal for Version 1.0.4.0. If you've got ancestors recorded in one or more of these countries and would like to get an early "beta" version of this, let us know. Right now, it's looking like we'll have a beta ready around December 1.

GenSmarts T-Shirts:

Looking for a real quality, comfortable t-shirt? We tracked down the manufacturer of a couple of our personal favorites... and acquired some short and long sleeve shirts embroidered with our GenSmarts logo. We though we'd get a few extras in case any customers wanted one. We're making them available at cost - $20, which includes shipping. You can see a picture and the specs at our new store: http://gensmarts.com/buy.html Sorry, we've only figured out how to ship the t-shirts to US/Canada, so if you want us to ship one to another country, drop us an email before ordering.

GenSmarts Gift Packaging:

While you won't find it in the online store, we're happy to box up GenSmarts for you to send as a personalized gift. So if you're scratching your head on what to get a fellow researcher... GenSmarts might just be the thing. Drop us an email and we'll send you some options and ordering instructions.

Meet us at GENTECH in St. Louis, January 22-24:

We'll be at lucky booth number 13. Stop by and say hi!

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The indexes to online census records can be pretty unforgiving when it comes to even the smallest difference between what you think you're searching for and what's in the index. There are times when you simply can't trust the indexes and need to slog through the census a page at a time. There is, however, a middle ground that's often overlooked for helping online research - printed indexes. Not only is the content often different in these indexes (vs. their online counterparts), but so is the "user interface" - you can look up and down alphabetically and easily catch spelling differences. So here's the tip: Next time you're at your favorite genealogy library, make a copy of the index pages pertaining to your favorite surnames, and keep them on file at home. When you get a brainstorm about something you want to check and the online index comes up empty, you can double check against your "printed index". If you find something interesting, you can still look it up online, using the locator information in the printed index.

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The SEARCH => input box that you see in several of the GenSmarts interfaces can be used to find any of the text that appears in the list, not just the name. You can use this to do some interesting things, here are some examples (ignore the quote marks, they're just to highlight what you might type in):

A) limit the display to a single person by typing in their record ID number (example - "[377]")

B) show only a certain surname by typing it in (example - "SMITH")

C) show all the federal census suggestions by typing in the record type (example - "Federal Census")

D) show all the suggestions for a certain county by typing the county name ("example - Greene County")

The SEARCH => input box works in combination with the other filters (such as Available Free Online, etc.), so you can use the combination of the two to narrow the display to something quite specific. And since the printed reports have an option to "print only what's displayed", you can easily get a hard copy of what you've narrowed things down to. This is quite useful when printing off some To Do's that you want to take with you on a trip.

By the way, GenSmarts does have several reports, if you hadn't noticed. We ran into a user the other day that hadn't found them yet... they're in the PRINT menu that you can access by pressing the word PRINT at the top of the screen. You have the option of a "print preview" which simply displays to the screen and doesn't print on paper, so don't be hesitant to take a look.

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Ever worry about what you might loose if all those saved emails and addresses went away? If you use Outlook Express (we do), you might like a product called e-Backup, which makes it simple to backup and restore your Outlook Express environment. Normally, you hope you wouldn't have to test the restore process, but it's so easy we use it all the time. On a weekend or before taking a trip, we "backup" our current "office/desktop" mail and then "restore" it our laptops so we've got a current copy of all correspondence and addresses. The company that makes this little product is InAchis, and you can download a free trial from their website http://www.inachis.com/download/index.php. The cost to purchase is less than $20.

No connection or affiliation to GenSmarts - just a product we find very helpful.

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PC users have a number of choices when it comes to operating systems they use and what browsers they run. Sometimes, it's interesting to look at some real world data - to see what people are really doing and choosing. Here's some stats, based on the visitors to the GenSmarts website, during the month of October:

Most Popular Browsers Hitting GenSmarts Website in October:

33% MS Internet Explorer

29% Netscape

26% AOL (also based on MS IE)

11% Other

1% Opera

Most Popular Operating Systems Hitting GenSmarts Website in October:

60% Windows XP, 2K, NT

36% Windows 98 & ME

2% Windows 95

1% Macintosh

1% Linux

*** S u b s c r i p t i o n I n f o ***

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Tags:  TMG  RootsMagic  Legacy Family Tree  Family Tree Maker  Family Tree Maker  Linux  Gedcom  

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