GenealogyTools

Genealogy Software Tutorials for Mac & PC

Ben Sayer

VMWare Fusion Updated to Version 2.0.1

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On the heels of the major Parallels Desktop upgrade Tuesday, VMWare have released a minor update to their virtual computer software, VMware Fusion 2, on Friday.

Some genealogists use PC virtualization software to run Windows genealogy software on their Mac. Fusion is one of the major options for doing this.

The company had this to say about the release:

VMware Fusion 2.0.1 is a maintenance release of VMware Fusion 2. It has the following enhancements:

  • Contains bug fixes described in Resolved Issues
  • Now shows application badge instead of generic document icons when assigning Windows applications to Mac documents
  • Greatly reduced initial pause when opening mirrored or shared folders
  • No longer disables certain shared folders and mirrored folders that were nested folders. The potential data loss issue with nested shared folders has been resolved
  • No longer publishes Windows guest applications to Mac if Allow the virtual machine to open applications on your Mac is unchecked in virtual machine Settings > Sharing
  • AutoProtect postpones taking a snapshot when the user is interacting with the virtual machine
  • No longer maps Num Pad Enter to AltGr by default for non-European keyboards
  • Brings back the Enable Hints menu item in Help menu

A detailed list of issues fixed in this release is available on release notes page.

Routine Photo Management Tasks in iFamily for Leopard

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The context diagram in iFamily for Leopard can display a photo above each person. This is a great way to harness the face recognition part of your brain to make finding people quicker as well as add flavor. Storing photos of relatives in iFamily for Leopard is also a great way to organize them. You can even annotate them by using the transcribe feature as demonstrated in a previous screencast.

In this screencast I show you how to use iFamily for Leopard to:

  • crop photos
  • correct a discolored black and white photo
  • select which photo appears in the context diagram for a given person

Please open iFamily for Leopard, play this video, Routine Photo Management in Mac Genealogy Software iFamily for Leopard, and follow along. After doing so you will have the knowledge and experience to move beyond just having photos. You’ll be ready to improve the quality of your family photos.

Parallels Desktop 4.0 Was Released on Tuesday

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If your favorite genealogy database program (or any other category of software for that matter) is available only for Windows, you’ll be happy to know that you can still run it on your Mac. As I wrote in July 2008 in an article titled, Want to Use a Windows Genealogy Application on Your Mac?, virtual computer software is the solution.

Even better news is that a major upgrade of Parallels Desktop for Mac, the virtual computer software I use and recommend, was released on Tuesday. It’s got over 50 new features and the interface has been redesigned. If you own version 3, an upgrade to 4.0 will cost $39.99. My copy is being downloaded now. If you’ve been holding off on buying this kind of software, now is an ideal time to take action. A new copy can be purchased for only $79.99.

Routine Photo Management Tasks in MacFamilyTree

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The gorgeous graphics in MacFamilyTree make great use of photos of your relatives. This screencast will help you bring your family history data to life whether you’ve already added some photos or not. In it, I cover editing photos and adding them to MacFamilyTree. Since MacFamilyTree is tightly integrated with iPhoto I show you how to use it to:

  • crop photos
  • correct fading
  • remove discoloration
  • sharpen images

Once edited, I walk you through adding the photos to MacFamilyTree and selecting the photo that will be used for a given person in the family assistant. Please open MacFamilyTree and the following video, “Routine Photo Management Tasks in MacFamilyTree”, and follow along. After doing so you will have the knowledge and experience to move beyond just having photos. You’ll be ready to improve the quality of your family photos.

Please note that in the video I recommend that you buy a current copy of iPhoto if you don’t already have it. I suggested looking for it in the recommended products list in the sidebar, but didn’t mention that it is part of Apple’s iLife ’11,
suite of applications. iLife ’11 is the package to look for, not iPhoto.