Using the LDS site - http://www.familysearch.org is a great way to start your research. It as free and fairly easy to navigate, as well as being designed to handle the novice. However, ALL records on the site are about dead individuals. There are no records of living people.
When you go to the home page you are greeted with a fill-in form that starts your search immediately. You will need to provide a name to be searched for, country and maybe a date. It is usually wise to allow a range of dates as many times the information was not given by the person involved or in the case of a baptism may have been performed quite a bit after the actual birth. The site searches using soundex (basically, names that sound similar but may have a different spelling) as a default. You can search for exact spelling but it is not really necessary or even a good thing. Census takers and parish clerks had very interesting variations in their spelling of names.
Your search will return results from several databases operated by the LDS Church. Document records have all been transcribed from original sources and although carefully monitored, spelling variations are again possible due to poor handwriting or condition of the document.
Possible results
1. Ancestral File - these are files submitted by church members about their own family. They give relationships - sometimes for several generations. However, they should always be used as a guide to further research - not the end product. You will need to look for supporting documentation
2. Census - the LDS church has fully transcribed the 1880 US census, and 1881 Censuses for Canada and England. If your ancestor was in any of these places at this time, you should find them here. Because census takers usually took their information from one member of the household or even a neighbor, there can be mistakes in ages and names. But this is a fantastic resource.
3. International Genealogical Index - this is a combination of transcribed church and civil records as well as records submitted by LDS members for church work. Each result indicates if it is a transcribed record (from an original document that can be checked) or a member submission.
TRanscribed documents will have a batch number (indicating when done) and a film or fiche number. These numbers refer to records permanently stored in Utah and you can usually order the film through a Family History Center if you wish to view it.
Member submissions should still be checked for supporting documentation.
4. Pedigree Resource File - this is the Ancestral file updated and all the same cautions apply. The big difference is that the submitters name is provided and there is room for the submitter to have added sources and notes. These do not all appear on the website but are available at a family History center on the Pedigree CDs
5. US Social Security Death Index - is just that. The Social Security system started in the 1930s. This is an index of those who were registered with Social Security and died. It gives the name, date of death, place of death, birthdate if known or approximate year (from age) and Social Security number.
6. Vital Records Index - these are results from Vital Records indexes in Mexico and Scandinavia
The general search on the homepage will provide results from all of these data bases. If you wish to search just one of them, click on advanced search and then the base you wish to search