Computers

The computer has come a useful tool for many.

In the world of technology change is always happening, sometimes for the better and sometimes not. Computers are one item that has proven to be more useful as time goes on. Personal computers were more like toys than necessities back in the 1980s, but today they are useful in many ways.

When our children were younger we choose to home school them and found many software programs to help do the job. From drills, exercises and tests to research and writing, the computer proved to be of great help. It also keeps records on spreadsheets and in data bases for finances and tax purposes.

As the internet developed, more information and services were available and at faster speeds than other methods. Booking hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises, airfares and more are now something you can do in your own home without a travel agent.

Shopping for anything from books and clothing to furniture and cars can all be done on a computer hooked up to the internet. Comparison shopping is fast and easy as well as finding reports about the performance of products. Bargains can be found on auction sites as well as other sites selling used or clearance items.

How-to’s can be found for just about any hobby, with many sites offering free patterns, recipes and more. Hobbyists share their latest projects and ask questions of other hobbyists. Magazines also have sites where you can read their articles.

We even found a place in Maine that was able to repair an engine part for one of our farm machines. After being unsuccessful in locating a local place that could do the repair we were delighted when we discovered that there was indeed a way to get it working again.

Computers are a great place to store pictures, music, recipes, documents and other useful information. Backup systems are also available should something happen to the computer. It is easy to retrieve stored data and takes less space than books, paper files, records and tapes.

There are even programs that block unwanted materials from coming to your computer via the internet. Being able to say what we do and don’t want to show up on our computer is important to us.

Our son and his friends like to play certain computer games. What they do is to connect up eight to ten or more machines together and play head to head in real time. This is called a Local Area Network, or LAN connection. The gathering is called a LAN party. Most everyone has a great time and they last until 2 or 3 a.m. Board games are good but they can’t compete with the computers for fast action and realism.

Computers these days are powerful and easy to use, and unlike gasoline, their prices keeping coming down. Many small portable machines now have the speed, memory capacity and even the screen size of the larger desk computers of a few years ago.

Once our column is written on the computer, we send it via email to the Daily News. It then goes into their computer system to be processed for publication in the print edition. Then every Friday we also post it on our blog site listed below. Some new technology has proven to be useful and the computer is just one example of that fact. The internet is another, which allows us to do so much more from our home than in the past. That adds up to a savings of both gasoline and time.