Manasota PAF News
Nov  2001 -  Volume 8 Issue 2 - A publication of the Manasota PAF User Group, Bradenton, Florida

What's New at Wholly Genes? - Part II Importing  by Pat Richley DearMYRTLE@aol.com  -- At last month's PAF meeting, we looked at screen shots from the new Family Tree SuperTools from the folks at Wholly Genes.  See also: articles titled What's New at Wholly Genes  and Three FTS Screen Shots.  Many of your decided to download the program to "look at your existing genealogy database" in PAF or FTM.  (Personal Ancestral File or Family Tree Maker.) I told you I had planned to learn more about it in the meantime, and BOY has it been fun!

Just how easy is it for Family Tree SuperTools to locate your file? VERY, VERY easy! When you open up the program you are prompted to:

• open last project used

• open sample project (recommended for new users of the program)

• select a project (from those you've worked on previously)

• import data from another program (there's a WIZARD, so don't worry!)

• create an empty project (import data later(

I clicked the fourth option, and followed the well-defined screen prompts.

• Step 1: Welcome to GenBridge import wizard (I left the Simple Wizard option active and clicked NEXT.)

• Step 2: Import From: (I selected Personal Ancestral File v3-5X (*.PAF) from the list, then clicked the AUTOSEARCH button to let the software do the walking through all available drives. YUP, it looked at my C: D: and even tried to look at my A:  It located thirteen *.PAF, and added them to a drop-down list box. I clicked on the file name I wanted, and the program indicated the file contains 18,383 people. This notation assured me that it was the correct file. so I clicked the NEXT button.)

• Step 3: Import to:  (Here I named the file, and chose to put the file in the folder c:\MyDocuments because I routinely backup that folder to another hard disk drive on my system. I then clicked the NEXT button.)

• Step 4: Finish (Here I merely clicked the FINISH button to instruct the wizard to go forward with the import. On my 450mhz Sony Vaio laptop, it took about 2 minutes.)

When the import was done, I received a VERY interesting screen allowing me to correct any place names that might need to be fixed. I'll demonstrate the CTRL+RIGHTARROW option at the meeting Saturday. Its pretty nifty for getting those place names in the correct order, i.e. City, County, State, Country.

After editing one or two localities, I was offered the chance to look at the import report, and noted that no errors were listed.  Now that my data was effortlessly imported, FTSuperTools can "look at" and arrange my data in ways that PAF simply cannot. 

Its possible to have 2 databases (or projects as they are called in FTSuperTools) open at the same time in different windows. This is immensely helpful if you wish to compare your existing database with something a distant cousin sends you. (And aren't you glad the FTSuperTools can READ just about every time of genealogy program data out there!) From the publisher: View the new database "in relation to your own data without actually merging those data sets together. This innovative new strategy offers new insights into your research while maintaining an important “firewall” between your data and that of other researchers."

Here are some other options, which we will discuss at upcoming Manasota PAF Users Group meetings:

January 2002: Search and filtering tools

1. How to color code names - (those born in Virginia or died in Tennessee or both) 

2. How to search by Name Variations - AKA, Alias & Nickname

3. How to set other search parameters - The website suggests: Given name=John, Number of sons > 4 and Is a descendant of ID #7

4. How to save search or filter results to file for future use. 

February 2002: Utilities 

1. dates: calculator & regnal date converter

2. relationship calculator 

3. web searching (including multiple sites, and keyword searching)

4. data presentation: wall charts, multimedia slideshow

March 2002: Preferences & Timeline

1. Researcher Info (name, address, e-mail, etc) Item Tips, Slideshow, Lists, Project Explorer, Tag Box, Colors

2. Advanced: backup file locations, definitions for "circa" and "maximum life span"

3. Setting an automatic "relation tag" to a specific individual.

4. Historical Time Lines - view an ancestor's events "in relation to politics, battles, county line changes, and general history."

You may jumpstart your understanding of the Family Tree SuperTools by working through the following tutorial online at: www.whollygenes.com/ftsttour.htm . Gosh, I LOVE it when programmers provide lessons for using the software!

For Further Reading:
Family Tree SuperTools - www.whollygenes.com/supertools.htm#features The publisher states: "Family Tree SuperTools is a true 32-bit application with support for right-click menus, long file names, user-defined screen configurations, and drag-n-drop of slideshow media and chart elements. It requires at least a Pentium 166 with 64 Megs of RAM running Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, ME, or XP. Web searching and chart uploading features require an Internet connection."

Kindergarten Pedigrees -Another NEAT Kids Site by Pat Richley DearMYRTLE@aol.com - Just in time for the holidays, with visiting grandchildren and stuff -- a kid's version of pedigree charts brought to us via the internet from the wonderful folks at www.disney.com. You may recall that The Tigger Movie concerns Tigger searching for his family tree. At the website promoting the video, you'll find three pedigree charts for your favorite youngster to fill out. If that special little one comes to visit, have him sit at your computer while you click to take him/her to the web site.  There he can click his preferred format, as per the screen shot below!  See: http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/tiggermovie/familytree.html  Thanks to Cyndi's List for providing the link! Its one of those things I never would have found without her help!

Library of Congress K-12 Web Site  by Pat Richley DearMYRTLE@aol.com For those kids a little bit older, you'll enjoy showing them The LEARNING PAGE, which is part of the Library of Congress web site. Here you'll find neat online projects for students to show off their web searching capabilities. I guess I am a kid at heart, because I found the information and presentation fascinating!

I particularly liked "Women Pioneers" located at: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/women/women.html where I discovered a first had report of an 1851 trip around Cape Horn to San Francisco: "What with the noise of the men pulling the ropes and taking in sail, and the dashing of the sea as it came over the vessel with great violence, there was of course no such thing as quiet sleep." There are 190 works that comprise the California as I Saw It:" First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900."  This sort of report makes it easy to put an ancestor in historical perspective if he took this same migration route to San Francisco in the same time period.

Managing Computer Viruses - submitted by Pat Richley DearMYRTLE@aol.com .  People have been getting "zapped" by computer viruses left and right... OK, well their computers have gotten zapped. OK, maybe that first statement stands because, for some of us, our computers are our right arms! Anyway, virus attacks are getting more frequent and more sinister in their approach.

Yesterday I read postings to a public e-mail list for Family History Center directors where someone described a virus and said to go in and manually remove some ".dll" files. Someone else responded that this would render the computer unbootable. Another person disputed that.  It occurs to me that we need to get our "fixes" straight from the horse's mouth, so-to-speak.

In the case of computer viruses -- whose word CAN you trust?  The usual answers include the top two anti-virus software companies:

• Norton Anti-Virus by Symantec www.symantec.com 

• McAfee Anti-Virus by Network Associates www.mcafee.com 

I happen to use McAfee, and I subscribe to their virus alert e-mail list. You can also find out about the latest viruses and how they work by going to the web site for the software program you use.  In my case, here's what McAfee had to say about a very high risk computer virus going around this week. 

"W32/Badtrans@MM Help Center - http://www.mcafee.com/anti-virus/viruses/badtrans/default.asp?cid=2607  A new variant of Badtrans has been discovered, referred to as Badtrans.b. AVERT has raised the Risk Assessment on this variant of W32/Badtrans@MM to High Risk for Consumers. We have received many reports from the home users that they have become infected. It is believed that failure to update recently has caused this increase in occurrence. VirusScan and other McAfee products with DAT files 4172 and higher are protected from this variant. W32/Badtrans@MM is a mass-mailing worm that drops a remote-access Trojan. The virus arrives via email in Microsoft Outlook and attempts to send itself by replying to unread email messages. The email may contain the text "Take a look to the attachment" in the message body and will contain an attachment that is 13,312 bytes in length. The attachment name is created from three sections. The first part is chosen from the possibilities: fun Humor docs info Sorry_about_yesterday Me_nude Card SETUP stuff YOU_are_FAT! HAMSTER news_doc New_Napster_Site README images Pics The second part is chosen from the possibilities: .DOC. .MP3. .ZIP. and the last part from the possibilities: pif scr This new variant also uses the iframe exploit and incorrect MIME header to run automatically on unpatched systems. See Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS01-020) for more information and a patch. What can this virus do? If the attachment is opened, the worm displays a message box entitled, "Install error" which reads, "File data corrupt: probably due to a bad data transmission or bad disk access." A copy is saved into the WINDOWS directory as INETD.EXE and an entry is entered into the WIN.INI file to run INETD.EXE at startup. KERN32.EXE (a backdoor Trojan), and HKSDLL.DLL (a valid keylogger DLL) are written to the WINDOWS SYSTEM directory, and a registry entry is created to load the Trojan upon system startup. HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ RunOnce\kernel32=kern32.exe Once running, the Trojan attempts to mail the victim's IP Address to the author. Once this information is obtained, the author can connect to the infected system via the Internet and steal personal information such as usernames, and passwords. In addition, the Trojan also contains a keylogger program which is capable of capturing other vital information such as credit card and bank account numbers and passwords. How can I detect and remove this virus?  McAfee.com VirusScan and Clinic users, click here to update ActiveShield.  Retail McAfee VirusScan users, click here to get the latest DAT file. Scan Your System for Infected Files McAfee.com VirusScan Online and Clinic users, click here to perform a Scan. If W32/Badtrans@MM is found, use the delete option to remove it. Please select the applicable operating system for further removal instructions: Windows 95/98/2000/NT Windows ME"

Now THAT is the way to describe a problem, as well as provide a fix for it! 

I checked out the main screen at Symantec and found references to the same virus, with links to the more detailed description as well as the latest fix to remove the virus from your system.

Note that McAfee states "It is believed that failure to update recently has caused this increase in occurrence." This reminds us of the importance of not only owning a virus software program, but remembering to update the anti-virus program regularly by going to that company's web site to download and install the latest inoculation files.  Even fresh-out-of-the-box from Office Depot, McAfee is OLD!  This is only owing to the fact that thousands of new viruses are created by computer menaces EVERY MONTH. 

Since viruses pose such an ominous threat to our computers, keeping our anti-virus software up-to-date should be a number one priority. We don't want to compromise our systems with thousands of names in our genealogy database. What if your back-up becomes infected as well?  I recommend getting a version of anti-virus software that allows your computer to automatically update. How does that work? Whenever I am online, my McAfee software secretly looks (without my being aware) at the McAfee web site for any notice of updates. If a new file available is available, my McAfee software sends a notice to my screen that an update of files is available. I merely click to authorize the update or upgrade. There are two types of files McAfee will tell me about:

• an additional set of inoculation (or .dat) files (update)
• a newer version of the McAfee program itself (upgrade)

The update inoculation files are self-installing. After I click OK, its only a few minutes for the file to be downloaded, and the install, so it isn't a hard fix. About every two years I get the notice to upgrade the entire McAfee program itself. This process takes much longer, sometimes about 45 minutes, and does require that I click to install the newer version. 

PLEASE keep your computers safe from viruses. Sneezing at your computer desk is allowed, but there is no excuse for not purchasing and maintaining the latest anti-virus detection and removal software. 

• never go to web sites mentioned in e-mail from people you do not know
• never open e-mail with attachments from people you don't know (pictures, etc.)
• never send a reply or go to a web site to "get your name removed from the mail list." It is safer to:
  • delete mail from your inbox
  • block that specific e-mail address following the e-mail software's directions
• always keep the latest, greatest version of your anti-virus software and allow it to:
  • automatically update & upgrade
  • scan your entire system (not just .exe files) weekly
  • scan your program files (.exe) on boot-up daily.
  • scan  your e-mail itself 

Our goal is to provide the highest level of protection for our computer systems in this uncertain world.