Free genealogical software for windows

Personal Ancestral File 5.2.18 is released as a new Windows-based version of one of the most widely used genealogical management programs for home computers, which can be downloaded free from the Internet.

PAF does not provide genealogical data. Instead, it helps users organize their family history records. It can produce, either on screen or on paper, family histories, pedigree charts, family group records, and other reports to help users in their search for missing ancestors.

Gedcom Viewer opens a Gedcom and displays the full family tree - all on a single screen, even for hundreds of people. Gedcom Viewer opens a Gedcom (GEnealogical Data COMmunication) format file, exported from your Genealogy program, and displays the full family tree - all on a single screen, even for hundreds of people.
You can then use the mouse to navigate the tree, with lightning-fast highlighting of (e.g.) close relatives, descendants, ancestors etc., then optimise the tree diagram for just the people selected.
Gedcom Viewer also allows you to see Name, Birthdate, etc., find individuals, calculate and show inbreeding levels, zoom, etc.
The program reads Gedcom files (*.ged), as generated by popular Family Tree programs, and displays the full pedigree structure on the screen. Each individual is represented by full name, or by another field such as Sex, Birth Date or Inbreeding level.
This current version of Gedcom Viewer can display up to 10 additional fields when a pedigree file (*.ped) is opened.
You can display a large pedigree of thousands of individuals all on the screen at the one time. Each individual is represented exactly once, which is necessary to provide a rational pedigree diagram.
Data are overlapped on the screen for such large pedigrees, but in one mode an individuals information is highlighted as the mouse cursor passes over. You can ask to find an individual(s) by identity, or, for *.ped files, by merit or merit range for a given trait, if included, such as height.
A single click changes between fields, or displays just relatives (of chosen degree) of the individual clicked. With one more click you can then organise the pedigree picture to be most clear for just those individuals.
You can also zoom into interesting parts of the pedigree, change the font displaying data, check for logical errors, alter the display of pedigree links and make other manipulations to give a suitable display, and print the result. Inbreeding coefficients and can be calculated and added to the list of displayable data.
For pedigree files (*.ped), individuals of high merit can be shaded more brightly, giving quick access to those with high merit.
Gedcom Viewer can be useful for navigating around a pedigreed family tree data set to get a feel for its structure and any construction problems it might contain. It can be used to quickly find interesting features, such as loops leading to inbreeding.