Having A “New Year Computer Checklist” Helps Keep Your Restaurant POS System In Good Shape

Start out the year right for your restaurant POS system. Let’s point out some of the most common and critical mistakes that are made in regard to some very basic configuration aspects of the computer system. Mistakes can severely damage a restaurant or any other retail establishment, not to mention the waste of time and money. Worse than that… it can frustrate you, your customers and staff.

Whether you’re the one who’s going to configure your restaurant’s computer system or not somebody else to do it for you] — it’s important for you to make sure everything is done properly.

Don’t let me give you the wrong message. I do not always recommend configuring your own computer system! I recommend letting a professional do the work. But I know some of you will do it yourself no matter what I say. So this is for those that insist on doing your own computer installations and for everyone else to double check and make sure everything was done properly. This could help you avoid some major problems and save hours of precious time.

So here are some simple retail computer system configuration checklist for a Windows network you could use as a guide:

1) Install a UPS
The main cause of electronic component failure is from fluctuations in electricity (up and down). A good UPS can solve this problem by providing clean power. I recommend that you at least put a good UPS on your server. And it’s a good idea to use them on each of your worstations too.

2) Plug All Your Cables Into the UPS
All cables that powers your computer and network must be properly plugged into your UPS. It’s also important to check if cables that can carry electrical charges are plugged into a surge protector or UPS. For example, the phone line for your modem can easily fry your computer if you do not plug it into a surge protector. So you better make sure that all cables are plugged properly. Your modem line, network cables, and power cords can cause serious damage if not plugged properly.

3) Tightening Up Security
At the very least, I suggest locking down your server with a password on all Windows accounts so your employees and hackers have more difficulty messing with your server.

4) Install Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware Software and Configure For Automatic Updates
Make sure that all your secirity tools are configured to automatically update every day, so you don’t forget.

5) Limiting Employee Internet Access
Employees will surft on anything they can on the internet. Anti-virus and anti-spyware software does help but if an employee unintentionally downloads the wrong program or accepts the wrong message, it can cause some serious problems to your system. You can avoid this by disabling internet browsing on your computers. Or another option is to protect internet access with a password.

For a restaurant, this is very important! In order to protect secured files from evil hands, limiting employee internet access is a must. A retail business owner has to strickly implement rules to protect his business as well as his profit. Otherwise, what good will a restaurant POS system do if it’s run by a misbahaved or ignorant personnel.

6) Configuring Your Back Up To Run Regularly
As well proven in many situations, it’s still best to configure your back up to run after work hours automatically. Don’t forget you still need to remember to change your back up device (like tapes) every day.

7) The Importance of Testing Your Back Up Regularly
I have talked to dozens people who think they have a good back up for restoring damaged files. But when they try to restore they find it hasn’t been working for months or years. That’s why it is very important to test your back up at least once a month by restoring files so you would know that it your back up is working properly. By the way, you should restore to an alternate file location so your existing software won’t be affected.

Avoid having regrest by forgetting to do these simple checklist. It’s not a waste of time and it’s not just for your business, employees and customers but for your own sake as well.

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