Family Tree Detective's Genealogy Site: Troubleshooting -- FTD for Windows

Home > Technical Support > Display Problems

Family Tree Detective works with any video card you might have. If you ever encounter a display problem, it is most likely caused by a video driver conflict. (The driver is the software that handles the communication between the operating system, such Windows 95, and the video card inside your computer.) Examples of possible display problems could be that the tabs at the right side of the Family Page don't show any names, or a portion of the screen may be illegible or distorted.

To find out which video card you're using:

Click the Start button, select Settings, then Control Panel.
Double-click the System icon, then click the Device Manager tab.
Click the + (plus sign) next to Display Adapter to see which video card you are using.
Write down the name of the display adapter (video card) and keep it close to your computer.

Sometimes this issue can be resolved by updating the drivers for your video card. Most manufacturers release driver updates fairly frequently and post the latest drivers on their Web sites.

For information on installing the new driver, check the manufacturer's Web site. Usually, installation instructions will be included with the latest drivers, or available on the Web site where you downloaded them.

Once you've installed the driver, you will need to restart Windows. Run Family Tree Detective and take another look to see if your screen appears correctly.

Decreasing Hardware Acceleration

If you've updated the drivers and the display is still distorted, you can try decreasing your video card's Hardware Acceleration.

Caution: Before you make any changes, make sure you have the drivers for your video card on hand. You may need them if things don't work correctly and you need to revert the your original settings. The drivers should have been included on disk or CD-ROM when you bought your computer. Chances are you already downloaded the latest driver in the previous steps.

To decrease your video card's Hardware Acceleration:

Click the Start button, select Settings, then Control Panel.
Double-click the System icon, click the Performance tab, then click the Graphics button.
Lower the Hardware Acceleration setting to Basic Accelerator Functions.
Click OK and restart your computer.
Run Family Tree Detective and take another look to see if your screen appears correctly.