Now published by Avanquest under licence from Ancestry, Family Tree Maker 2009 is the latest incarnation of what is possibly the best-known family history software. Admittedly, it's now best-known for the wrong reasons, following the disastrous rewrite that was version 2008. Version 2009 rectifies the errors and some of the omissions of its predecessor, while introducing a few new features.

Not all the new features proclaimed on the box are actually new. Those that are include a horizontal hourglass chart, bow-tie chart and 180-degree fan chart. You can also now show siblings in charts, add your name as preparer to the chart footer, and modify box settings for selected boxes.

The useful paginated Book Layout Trees - which spread large family trees over numbered and referenced standard-size pages - are retained. Some charts can only be produced in poster format for gluing together but, conveniently, you can prevent boxes from being split over page breaks.

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One continuing feature you'll like is the interface that puts most-used information, previously buried beneath tabs and menus, all on one screen. The new Media view can show all your media (graphics, video, audio, text) together, as well as that for individuals. Data entry can include free-form notes for each person, plus separate research notes.

You can add source references and citations to most facts and copy and paste source citations, as well as generating various source reports. You also get the usual Ahnentafel and Register genealogy reports, as well as relationship reports, a list of places and associated people, and a media report.

The Family Book feature - which in the past automatically assembled your choice of trees, reports and other printouts into one continuous document with Table of Contents and Index - is now a travesty of its former self, being clunky and prone to crashes in our tests.

Expensively printing it online is now an option. You still get space on Ancestry's server to upload your trees and reports to help your long-lost relatives to locate you and collaborate on research. And Ancestry can still take all your uploads, including any books, to reproduce, compile, distribute, and let others search, with no compensation to you. If you think this is unfair, don't upload to Ancestry.

Interactive maps will (usually) find your ancestor's places of birth, residence, marriage and death: provided you have resolved your place names to fit Family Tree Maker's lists and they don't default to US locations instead. You can choose between a road map, aerial view and, sometimes, a 3D view.

Family Tree Maker 2009 comes in three editions: Platinum, Deluxe, and Upgrade. The latter is for existing users, although you don't need your old version installed in order to load it. Get it from a specialist dealer like TWR Computing. It's stripped down, but the boxed Platinum and Deluxe editions offer progressively more goodies. All three editions are sold suitably tailored for the UK. The core program is the same in each case and there's no printed manual.

Putting most-used information together on one screen is convenient and makes analysis, research and navigation easier. Having some reports and charts restored is an ‘improvement', particularly the return of the book-layout charts. It's just a pity about the book report itself. It still seems to be memory-hungry and froze fairly frequently.