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We know that you can cherry pick specific databases to use in your search but there's hundreds of them and they're not separated into regions. The basic overall feeling is you'll get used to it eventually but right off the bat, it's a bit clunky.

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Also, when you signup for Ancestry.com you realise that a lot of the basic family tree building features of the Family Tree Maker software can be done on the website itself and it looks a damn site prettier as well. Ok, there's none of the book designing and web page authoring stuff but we do wonder how many people will go so far as to ever actually use these.

Speaking of the website authoring, once again the point of the software seems pretty minimal here as again this is just a tie-in with another online service, namely MyFamily.com. Again this requires you to sign up for something and jump through a variety of hoops and overall the whole process is a bit trying.

So, after all that, you're probably expecting us not to recommend Who Do You Think You Are? Family Tree Maker Deluxe but actually despite all its problems the overall package is quite compelling. The 3-months subscription to Ancestry.com is worth a few bob, considering you normally pay £9.95 a month, and should be plenty enough to build up a family-tree that goes back many generations. If you then want to go the whole hog and publish a website or author a book of your family tree the software is there to do all that for you.

The whole Who Do You Think You Are? tie-in is a basically a gimmick - especially considering we couldn't actually get the video clips to work - and we would've liked to see at least a whole other DVD with highlights from the series to make it seem worth the name. After all the series was rather good and we certainly wouldn't mind watching a few of them again.

Verdict

Who Do You Think You Are? Family Tree Maker Deluxe Edition is an odd assortment of online tools, and family tree building software that altogether feels a little clunky. However, if you are looking to start researching your family history and can find this package for around £20 (the price we've reviewed at) then it does make for quite a bargain and could be worth a punt.

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