Remember when you had to lower the tonearm onto a record? If you didn’t want to hear the first song, you tried to put the needle right between the grooves so you could start with the second song. All those clicks and pops that eventually showed up and gave a less-than-stellar sound.
Then came compact discs, and the music was almost flawless. You were never bothered with clicks and pops and the music seemed more alive. You could program the CD so you could hear what you want and in what order you wanted it.
Your computer probably has a hard drive with platters (think of a record now) and it spins very fast. Hovering above each platter is an armature with a hair-like needle that accesses your hard drive every time you open or close a program and when you save a file. This piece of equipment slows down your computer because of the access time it takes to find what it’s looking for.
The latest technology for computers is a solid state hard drive (SSD). There are no moving parts, and access times are incredibly fast. The prices are coming down as they become more popular. You can have your favourite computer shop clone your current drive to an SSD and you won’t lose any programs or data. This is also the easiest way to speed up your computer.
The Vernon PC Users’ Club meets the second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Schubert Centre.
Call Betty at 250-542-7024 or Grace at 250-549-4318 for more information.