Time to clean your PC the right way!Get ready for PC spring cleaning time! If you think about it – Do you still remember the last time you had your PC cleaned? Deleted old files from your pc? If you can’t remember, you are most likely due for a cleaning.

No worries, not too many people have time set aside to clean their computer, but they do find time to notice their system is slowing down. Regular cleanings of your keyboard, mouse and tower, especially in a restaurant environment, can keep your system running perfectly and help protect you from unwanted problems. This can also get your restaurant POS system up and running perfectly as expected.

Below are some advices for spring cleaning:

1. Start with your mouse. No one ever suspects the little guy, but your mouse could hold a variety of harmful bacteria that may cause illness. Use a small amount of cleaning solution on a lint free cloth to clean the mouse every few weeks. If you or other users have been sick, you may want to do this more often..

2. Cleaning your keyboard. Keyboards collect a lot of extras from you – little crumbs from lunch, dust from papers scattered across the desk, and most of the times even dirty unwashed hands on the keyboard. Cleaning the keyboard is a piece of cake, first turn off your PC, unplug all wires and take your keyboard to a trash can. Gently turn it upside down, so it will not fall to the ground, and lightly shake it or use compressed air to remove any dirt under the keys.

After getting rid of the debris from around the keys, use cotton {swabs|buds} with a small amount of cleaning solution like isopropyl alcohol to clean in between the keys. Next use a lint free cloth with a little bit of cleaning solution to wipe the tops of all the keys. Finish up by wiping the entire keyboard with a dry cloth.

3. Clean your computer. The actual computer component that your monitor, keyboard and mouse plug in to is either a tower or desktop unit. These units can astonishingly collect vast amount of dirt, especially if they are placed on the floor. Did you just look down at your tower baffled? If so, then you seriously need a spring cleaning time!

Again, with the same lint free and cleaning solution, start wiping down the outside vents and around the connections. The key is to make sure you get as much dirt as you can off the vents. The more dust is in there, the more {your computer is going to overheat.}

4. Time to dump those useless old files. How long has it been since you emptied the recycle bin? The recycle bin is where all deleted files go before they are permanently removed from your PCs hard drive. To permanently remove all deleted files from the recycle bin, simply right click on the “trashcan” icon and select “Empty Recycle Bin”, then choose yes among the “yes or no” options. This will remove all your recycle bin’s content giving more free space on your hard drive.

5. The cache. Another disk space hog can be temporary internet files that have never been deleted. To delete temporary internet files within Microsoft Internet Explorer, open your browser, click on Tools -> Then choose Internet Options. At the Browsing History section, there’s a button labeled “Delete”. Click it and you will see several choices like Temporary Inter Files, Cookies, History, Form data and Passwords, which you can delete whenever you want.

Here’s a brief description of each choices:

Temporary Internet Files – Deleting the temporary internet files will remove copies of webpages, images and media that are saved on your computer for {faster|quick} viewing.

Cookies – Deleting the cookies will remove the files stored on your PC by websites to save preferences such as login information.

History – Selecting this option will remove the list of websites you have visited.

Form Data – This will delete any saved information that you have typed into forms.

Password – This option contains all passwords that are automatically filled in when you log on to your online accounts. Deleting this will permanently remove all stored information from all websites you’ve visited in the past.

There is also a Delete All button that will clear all of the above.

These easy steps should be enough help to start spring cleaning your PC! regularly, especially if it is placed in an environment, like the restaurant kitchen, where dirts and spills are common.}

The author of this article is the Customer Relations Vice President for POS-For-Restaurants. With over 20 years of restaurant POS solutions experience, POS-For-Restaurants helps you use your technology to be more efficient and more profitable.

More information on our website: POS-For-Restaurants.com

Tags: Point of Sale, Point of Service, POS, restaurant automation, restaurant computer, restaurant hardware, restaurant point of sale, Restaurant pos, restaurant pos equipment, restaurant pos quote, restaurant pos solution, restaurant software

If your computer has access to the internet and e-mail, then it may be only a matter of time before you get attacked by malicious spyware program, virus, worm, or (worst) hackers. Every day we experience customers getting displeased and unhappy about their computer problems due to these threats, and it is only getting worse.

What’s even more worrying is that several of my customers keeps coming back to my office a couple days or weeks later complaining about the EXACT same computer problems and ends up paying for ANOTHER repair just to get their computer up and running again.

Just imagine having these kinds of problem with your restaurant. Your POS systems being infiltrated and destroyed by viruses and worms. You absolutely have no way of protecting your restaurant POS system if you do not take extra precautions.

Here are 3 of The Most Dangerous Computer Threats You Must Be Aware Of

One of the most dangerous aspects of online threats is their ability to cloak their existence. Hackers and other programmers who code malicious spyware and malware programs really exert vast amount of effort just to create harmful programs that are difficult to identify and remove.

This can mean that malicious computer programs can directly be downloaded and work its dirty tricks on your system before you are able to identify them. Below are the two most common threats you’ll need to guard against with a brief explanation of what they {are|are and how you acquire them}:

Spyware: Spyware is a computer program often installed without the user’s permission. This program collects information about you and your online activities and then reports it back to a third party. Sometimes advertisers uses this sneaky program to secretly monitor their customers’ activities. So Better becareful on what website you visit before clicking on that “download” button.

Most spywares are secretly attached to files you download over the internet, like free scripts, music files, and screen savers. While you think you are only downloading a legitimate program to add emoticons to your e-mails, you are unknowingly also downloading loads of spyware programs.

Malware: Malware is short for malicious software and represents all programs, viruses, Trojans, and worms that have malicious intent to infiltrate or disrupt a system. A malware is a program designed to be used for malicious intent and it’s harder to remove and will fight back when you try to clean it from your system. In some extreme cases, we had no other choice but to wipe out the entire hard disk and start with a complete re-install of the operating system. Most of the time, malware secretly attach itself to your emails without your knowledge causing computer damage to your email receipients.

Hackers: Programmers who find breaking in to their friends or coworkers’ computer is fun, but causes no damage, they love the challenge of being able to infiltrate a computer system and brag about it. Today these hackers mostly love to design spyware and malware programs that attacks computer systems causing extreme damage.

So if you’re a restaurant or any other retail establishment owner, having no protection for your POS systems at all, then your system is surely one of the easiest targets.

Some of them may have criminal intent and purposely use their programs to steal money or aquire secured information from unsuspecting individuals and companies. Some have a grudge against your software vendor and seek to harm them by secretly attacking their customers. While others do it purely for fun. Whatever the reason, these twisted programmers are getting more intelligent and sophisticated in their ability to penetrate computer systems and networks.

Below Are Four Simple Steps You May Take In Order To Secure Yourself From These Attacks

1. Do not forget to keep your antivirus software updated at all times. You will want to make sure it it auto scan and update feature that will make sure your computer is using the most current protection available and regularly scanning for threats.

2. Consider Mozilla Firefox as an alternative to the browser MS Internet Explorer. Hackers have figured out ways to access and effortlessly download malicious programs to your computer via a security hole in Internet Explorer. Even worse about this is that even if you do not click anything and/or download a program to get infected. You are very susceptible to attacks if you use an older version of Windows such as Windows 98.

Mozilla is a completely free web browser that does not have the same security problems as IE. A few of my clients saying that they like their Mozilla Firefox browser better than MS Internet Explorer. Switching from IE to Firefox is a simple and a cost-free way to add more protection to your computer. To download this free browser, go to www.mozilla.org.

3. Do not. Because most viruses are distributed through e-mails you receive from anonymous accounts, and even from your friends. If you feel it’s suspicious, do not open it, delete it immediately!

4. Set up a firewall. A firewall is a computer program that acts as a security barrier, protecting files and programs on one network from users on another network. many computer users will get a DSL or cable Internet connection and plug it directly using no firewall.

The one thing you have to remember about the Internet is that it is a big open field. You have access to the world, but on the other side, the world has access to YOU. Hackers have developed special programs which they use to scan the Internet automatically for computers with no firewall. And once they find one, they access your computer, download vicious programs, and can even use YOUR computer to distribute viruses to your friends and other computers, all without your knowledge or consent.

It only takes one click of a mouse to gain easy access to your restaurant POS system, collect all customer and employee information, destroy your computer system, and sends out virus-infected emails to your customers and friends using your email account! It will surely be the end of your hard work, a huge waste of money on the restaurant POS solutions you’ve bought, and possibly the downfall of your business if you let this things happen to you.

Michael Tash of POS-For-Restaurants, is the author and Vice President of Customer Relations for POS-For-Restaurants.com. With over 20 years of restaurant experience, POS-For-Restaurants.com helps you use your technology to be more efficient and more profitable.

Tags: Point of Sale, Point of Service, POS, restaurant automation, restaurant computer, restaurant hardware, restaurant point of sale, Restaurant pos, restaurant pos equipment, restaurant pos quote, restaurant pos solution, restaurant software

Last month I wrote about Spring cleaning for your PC. Since computers are something most people ‘set up and forget’, I figured I’d continue giving you tips on some more of what I consider the basics.

For restaurants, fast foods, hotels, convenient stores and other retail business owners, having a good-conditioned computer system helps keep the sales up. whether you are using the latest restaurant POS equipment or not, computer problems can still greatly affect your business’ performance. By following these few reminders, you’ll be able to keep your business in tip top shape.

1. Your Computer Needs Maintenance. As you change the oil of your car, your computer also needs regular maintenance to keep it up and running in top form and extend the usable life. Tools like disk cleanup, defragmentation, and updating your virus protection files are vital to keep your machine running at its’ best and to prevent small problems before they become really big problems.

2. You Need Virus Protection Software. As I always say, the most important piece of software you should have is an anti-virus program. It shouldn’t be news to you that you can get a virus attack from the internet or a not-so-friendly email. Anti-virus software will notify you before you open the infected file and release the virus to do damage. One key point to remember is anti-virus software will not repair damage a virus has already done. The anti-virus software also needs to be updated at least once a month so it’s using the latest protection against sneaky viruses that threatens your computer system.

3. Always Do A Backup Of Your System. I cannot stress the importance of a good backup plan! CDs and/or DVDs, Tape Drives, Memory Sticks and USB External Hard Drives all make good backup media. And once your backup plan is ready, use it regularly!

All computers will eventually retire one day. I don’t want to disappoint you, but it doesn’t really matter how new or old your computer is, it will retire one day. Like any other computers, yours is also a machine that’s expert in calculating, storing and processing data. Unfortunately, no machine in the world lasts a lifetime.

Files your computer holds can be priceless to replace. Think of all those financial data, e-mail contacts in your email address book, digital pictures, recipes, and so on. There will come a day you’ll open your computer wait for it to load and get disappointed because it has already retired! At that exact moment you’ll begin to realize how important it is to BACKUP your system. What are you going to do to backup all your computer data? We find it surprising that most people don’t even have a backup plan. You’ll never know how important your files are until you loose it! You need a backup plan.

In a restaurant, having a backup plan is a must. Why? Because there are so many data that needs to be kept for future references, just like your employee and customer information, data on the products or services of the retail establishment, and so on. To be able to effectively track down sales and inventories, a reliable restaurant POS system must be used. And one way to protect their POS system is to maintain it in good condition.

4. Letting An Expert Do The Job. If you need a computer service, seek out help of a well trained technician, other than hiring your so-called computer expert neighbor. Your friends’ son may offer to “fix” your problem, but many times the problems become worse. This may cost you a lot of time and money in the end. Remember, your computer system is the ‘central nerve’ of your business. Trained, qualified technician’s are the experts in their field and has the necessary skills and resources to properly fix your problems in no time and in a low-cost way.

The author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com. With over 20 years of restaurant experience, POS-for-Restaurants.com helps restaurants use their technology to be more efficient and more profitable.

Tags: Point of Sale, Point of Service, POS, restaurant automation, restaurant computer, restaurant hardware, restaurant point of sale, Restaurant pos, restaurant pos equipment, restaurant pos quote, restaurant pos solution, restaurant software