Many of us want to know about our roots, but trying to track them down can be overwhelming. Luckily, tools for exploring your family history have just gotten kicked up a notch with the release of Family Tree Maker 2008. This wonderfully simple software, which almost does your genealogy for you, syncs with genealogy Web site Ancestry.com (you definitely want a paid subscription to that site, too), bringing you the utmost experience in family history research. The latest incarnation of the product was built completely from scratch, unlike earlier versions, and is simpler and cleaner than previous releases. The resulting program is innovative and helpful, with all the tools home genealogists need.

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Installation went smoothly, but once I tried to register my software and sync it with my Ancestry.com account, I encountered problems. Even after trying different machines and adjusting firewall settings, I had no luck with this crucial step. Without the link to Ancestry.com, the software is far less useful, because that's where you'll find the millions of records that you want to use to fill in missing branches of your family tree. The problem, according to company reps, was that there was a connectivity issue with some Internet providers (Comcast, in my case). Downloading a patch from the Web site fixed the glitch, however, an