Basic Internet Requirements

This is the most basic requirement for an Internet Cafe as a reference. However, every Internet
Cafe or Gaming Center have their special requirement.

Hardware needed
1. 20 x Client PCs
2. 1 x PC to control Clients a.k.a Server
2. 1 x 24 ports Switch (or Hub?)
3. 1 x Modem with built-in Router because it is easier to have modem with built-in router
(broadband modem).
5. 1 x Printer - any brand
6. 1 x Scanner - any brand
7. 20 x USB extender (If only the USB ports are in the back)

Client PCs x 20 units

Minimum specification to run internet applications, office applications and games. It is important to
have the same specification on all the clients system to minimum maintenance job.

1. Processor - at least Pentium 4

2. 40GB Hard Disk Drive
3. 256MB RAM Memory
4. Monitor - 15" or 17" or 21"!
5. Motherboard - Good brand with Integrated sound and VGA but separated AGP card is the best!
6. Keyboard & Mouse - Any good brand keyboard and mouse with scroll.
7. Speaker or Headphone with Microphone
8. 100Mbps Network Card
9. CDRW Drive (optional)
10. Web Cam (optional)

Server PC x 1 units
Not so important, at least can run cyber cafe management software is good enough. But more
number of clients means higher specification needed.

1. Processor - at least Pentium 4

2. 20 - 40GB Hard Disk Drive
3. 256MB RAM Memory
4. Monitor - 15"
5. Motherboard - Good brand with Integrated sound and VGA
6. Keyboard & Mouse - Any good brand keyboard and mouse with scroll.
7. 100Mbps Network Card
9. CDRW Drive (optional)
10. Web Cam (optional)

Softwares in Clients
Most needed application by customers. It is important to have the same applications on all the
clients system to minimum maintenance job.

1. Operating System - Win98, WinMe or WinXP

2. Office Suite - Ms Office or OpenOffice.org
3. Browser - Internet Explorer, FireFox or Netscape Navigator
4. Adobe Reader
5. File Compressor - Winzip or WinRar
6. QuickTime
7. Media Player - WinAmp5 and Window Media Player
8. Messenger - ICQ, Yahoo, MSN and AOL
9. Anti Virus - Norton AntiVirus or McAffee
10. CD Burning Utility - Nero or Alcohol (optional)
11. Reboot Restoration Utility - Deepfreeze or Norton Goback, or Juzt Reboot card (optional).
Although it is optional, I think it will reduce almost 95% of internet cafe's maintenance. Think
about it!

Softwares in Server
Preferably the same with clients, because it is easier to troubleshoot problem if something happen.

1. Operating System - Win98, WinMe or WinXP

2. Office Suite - Ms Office or OpenOffice.org
3. Browser - Internet Explorer, FireFox or Netscape Navigator
4. Adobe Reader
5. File Compressor - Winzip or WinRar
6. QuickTime
7. Media Player - WinAmp5 and Window Media Player
8. Messenger - ICQ, Yahoo, MSN and AOL
9. Anti Virus - Norton AntiVirus or McAffee
10. CD Burning Utility - Nero or Alcohol (optional)
11. Internet Cafe Management Software - CCAutoSoft

Games to Choose
These are the most wanted games in the Internet Cafe or Gaming Center.

1. Half-Life, Half-Life2
2. Conter Strike
3. Need For Speed Underground 1 & 2
4. Warcraft 3
5. Doom 3
6. Everquest2
7. Galaxy LightSpeed
8. Halo for PC
9. Star Wars Galaxies
10. Battlefield 1942
11. Secret Weapons and Vietnam
12. Rise of Nations
13. Home World 2
14. Solider of Fortune
15. City of Heroes
16. Final Fantasy XI
17. Command and Conquer
18. Midtown Madness 1 & 2
19. Bass Fishing
20. House of the Dead 1 & 2
CONNECTING ALL HARDWARES IN INTERNET CAFE

All the hardwares need to be connected each other to the Local Area Networking (LAN), to enable
them share one internet line to get connected to the Internet. This is a basic idea on how to
connect all your hardware to the LAN.

Connecting the Computers

All PCs have to connect to the switch/hub, which are merge as a LAN. A local area network (LAN)
is a group of computers and associated devices that share a common communications line and
typically share the resources of a single processor or server within a small geographic area (for
example, within an office building).

In these article I assume that all PCs have been completely installed with Windows 98 operating
system and using static IP Address instead of dynamic IP (DHCP) for each system because
CCAutoSoft cyber cafe management software currently only support static IP Address.

Installing and Configuring Ethernet Adapter Card

In order to enable each PC communicate with each other we have to install the networking
protocol. Common ones used in a simple network is IPX/SPX and TCP/IP. To install, open Network
Neighborhood properties, click "Add" button, Select "Protocol" and "Add" button, scroll down in the
manufacturer list and select Microsoft, select IPX/SPX and click "OK". The next one should be the
same, but select TCP/IP instead. Once installed, select TCP/IP in the Network Neighborhood
Properties window, click "Properties" button.

Insert into TCP/IP Properties:

The PC's IP Address, e.g. 192.168.1.2
- Each PC must have different IP Address e.g.: 192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3, 192.168.1.4,
192.168.1.5 and so on.

Gateway: 192.168.1.1 (modem/router IP Address)

DNS: refer to your Internet Provider, in this case I use Malaysian TMNet's DNS: 202.188.0.133
and 202.188.1.5

Click "OK" button, and restart PC. The computer will be ready to get connected once it is restarted.
Do the same to other PC.

Cabling/Wiring
Commonly use cables are co-ax and cat5 with RJ-45 and BNC connector. Most of new NIC only
support RJ-45 connector, so we use Cat5 (also called 10BaseT) cable. Other then RJ-45 connector
and Cat5 cable, you also need a crimping tool. Measure the length from the client to the switch,
perhaps a little bit longer. Cut the cable and crimp RJ-45 connector at both of the cable end. The
next step is the easiest part, put one end of the cable into the client's NIC port and the other end
at the switch/hub's port. You have to make another 20 cables if you have 20 units of clients with 1
unit of server. Connect all 20 PCs, PC Server and the modem/router to the hub/switch and connect
a phone line to the modem/router.

Configuring the modem and router.

There are many broadband modem with built it router out there. The configuration is off course
different with each other. But the basic configuration is to set the router as the gateway. You also
have to insert your dialing properties in the router, such as your username and password. Most of
the modem can be configured through the web browser at any connected clients. For example, if
the modem/router's IP Address is 192.168.1.1, just type http://192.168.1.1 in the web browser
URL's box on any PC in the LAN.

Sharing a Printer
Usually, a printer is connected to the server PC, so the internet cafe staff can easily manage
printing process whether from clients or by walk in customer. Configure network neighborhood
properties of the server to share printer, this will let printer sharing with the LAN. After install the
printer driver into the server, make it shared. "Add printer" at each client by browsing in the LAN
and find shared printer at the server.

Connecting A Scanner
Scanner needs to be connected to a PC to operate. Connect it to a client if you prefer customers to
use the scanner themselves, or connect it to the server if you want the cyber cafe staff to scan for
your customers.

Conclusion

Now we have finished build a LAN with 20 units of PC, a printer and a scanner, which sharing
single phone line to connect to the internet. This is just a brief idea on how to connect all
hardwares in a cyber cafe.
THE NEED FOR R E B O O T -A N D - R E S T O R E S O F T W A R E / H A R D W A R E

What is Reboot-And-Restore in PC system?

Reboot-And-Restore is an action to restore a PC system to a state where it before, only by reboot

it. PC need to be restored because of some factors such as having problems, virus, trojan,
spyware, cleaning the history and refreshing the system. Normally, after the reboot-and-restore
process, a PC should clean and fresh as it just has been finished setup (off course, depend on what
state it have been configured before.).

Currently, there are not many good reboot-and-restore software in the market. I can only name
two of it. Deepfreeze and Norton GoBack. And in hardware category, I only found one that is
JuztReboot. With DeepFreeze, you have the choice to freeze partition while Norton GoBack only
could freeze one hard disk. But Norton Goback run much faster and smoother than DeepFreeze
which require more fast and high end desktop. On the other hand, you need to by JuztReboot card
to use JuztReboot function.
Symantec’s Norton GoBack™ 4.0 allows you to easily undo PC problems. Restore your PC to a
healthy state by going back minutes, hours, or even days (depending on available disk space).
Also use Norton GoBack to restore files that have been deleted or modified, and to try new
software safely.

Deep Freeze is the standard in bulletproof disk protection. Deep Freeze instantly protects and
preserves baseline computer configurations. No matter what changes a user makes to a
workstation, simply restart to eradicate all changes and reset the computer to its original state -
right down to the last byte. Expensive computer assets are kept running at 100% capacity and
technical support time is reduced or eliminated completely. The result is consistent trouble-free
computing on a truly protected and parallel network, completely free of harmful viruses and
unwanted programs.
How about Windows System Restore? Windows System Restore could be found on Windows XP
and Windows Me. It only can restore Windows files and it’s registry. It cannot disinfect virus,
trojan or spyware from the desktop. In fact, the virus may be accidentally backed up because of
this feature. It is good enough to solve light error related to Windows application. However, it is
save to disable the System Restore if you are using DeepFreeze of Norton GoBack.
System Restore is designed to automatically monitor and record changes made to the core
Windows system files and to the registry. System Restore can then allow you to undo (or "roll
back") a change that caused instability in your system. This is accomplished by periodically
recording a "Restore Point" (or System CheckPoint) that gives you the ability to roll your system
back to the point in time when your computer was known to function properly.

Why Need Reboot-And-Restore?

State A : Just finished install and configure the Windows XP, MS Office and other application in a
desktop PC.

State B : Configure the reboot-and-restore application

State C : Start uses the desktop PC.

State D : After sometime (may be after an hour, a day, a week or a month), the desktop got some
problems or sign of virus or may be a registry error. The problem could be repair by using the
anti-virus (if it is a virus infection) or windows scanreg (if it is a registry error). How about if the
desktop still keeps showing the same problem again and again? So, it is an unrecoverable error in
the desktop. The hard way to solve the problem is to reformat the hard disk and reinstall Windows
and other application all over again. But fortunately, there is the reboot-and-restore application
was installed. So just use the reboot-and-restore application to restore to State C. It only needs a
couple of seconds to finished, and after that the desktop is a new as it just formatted. But beware!
All files created after the state C will be deleted, and modified files will return to before it is
modified.

Why Need Reboot-And-Restore in Internet Café?

As we can imagine from the above situation, the reboot-and-restore application could solve many
every day problems in the cyber café. It could save hundred of hours and money too. Every day,
one desktop PC in a internet café are used by many people. Some use to surf the internet, play
games, type documents, save some documents to the diskette and thumb drive, and download
files from the internet and some just one to destroy the desktop! All of these activities could create
trouble to the internet café business such as by spreading viruses, trojan or spyware to all desktop
PCs in a matter of seconds and corrupted Windows. Sometimes, only one desktop PC infected by
virus, but all PC in the whole internet café cannot access the internet!
So, how are we encountering the problems? Off course, use the reboot-and-restore application.
Whenever a customer finish using a client, just restart the PC and the PC will back to the
unproblematic state. Do you or your cyber café staff want go to each desktop every time
customers finished their session? How about if there are 50 desktops in the internet café? Off
course not. So, buy the right cyber café management software, which have the function to restart
the client in one click, or restart the client every time customers finish their sessions.

Other advantage of using the reboot-and-restore application is the customers will not have any
privacy issue. All of their work, documents, history and files in the desktop will be deleted
automatically every time the desktop is rebooted.

Conclusion

As the conclusion, a reboot-and-restore application is a must have in an internet café to save

maintenance time, money and to keep trouble-free desktop PC. It is for you and your customers'
convineance.

WHY DO I NEED A CYBER CAFE BILLING MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Some call it as the cyber café billing software. Some named it as cyber café management
software. Others call it cyber café accounting software. It is all the same. Internet cafe timing
software is just another name.
A few years back, in the beginning of internet cafe business, we hardly find any software designed
for especially for internet cafe. Off course, without a cyber cafe management software, internet
cafe using traditional method in keeping customer record. In my personal opinion, internet cafe
business is one step forward from other type of businesses that do not need any advanced
technology. If a restaurant can use cash machine, why cyber cafe cannot? So, if an internet cafe
still using a simple calculator to calculate the bill, the business is one step behind other business.

When a customer comes in, the internet cafe staff writes the customer's name and the start time
in a book. When they finish, search for his name on the book and calculate the usage charge by a
calculator. How will your customer know whether the calculation is correct? How do they confident
they are not being cheated? I have a friend who banned one cyber cafe in his entire life because
he was asked to pay for what he did not use. He believed that he only use the computer in half an
hour, but the staff shows him the book that he had used it for almost three hours! Isn't it
ridiculous? Even though, your staff calculates it correct, but without the right software, customers
will lose confident in your internet cafe.

Without the software, if the customer makes the payment first, cyber cafe staff needs to make
sure the customer will end the session on a right time. The staff has to tell the customer when the
session is finished by go to the customer and tell them that the time was over, and it is not
surprise that the staff always failed to do it on time. How can a staff do the work if you put twenty
to forty units of computers in the internet cafe? As a result, you need to hire two or three staffs to
do a simple job!

Every internet cafe may have some experience with bad customers. How if a customer insist to
leave the computer although the time was over? What will your staff do? How if somebody is using
the computer without pay? How if a customer says that he already paid some amount, but your
staff did not write it on the book? And many more bad experience not including bad experience
with your own staff.

There are too many reason why you need a cyber café billing software (If only you are running the
internet café business). Most of the time cyber café billing systems also have many other functions
that will make thing easier to manage your internet café.

INTERNET CAFE'S COMMON MISTAKES

There are some very common mistakes made by internet cafes owner which may bring down the
business. As we might know, it is not easy to attract customer to come to your internet cafe,
especially when you got so many competitors around within your area. It is easier for you to
attract customer before you begin your internet cafe business. Before the openning, do some
promotion like banners, flyers and in your advertising do not forget to state 'free surfing in the
first and the second day'. It will cause customers from other cyber cafes come to yours in the first
two days. People want to now how is the new cyber cafe, is it the same or different from other
cyber cafes. Or may be they just want to have free surfing! Whatever they think or whatever the
purpose, do not spoilt it with common problem of internet cafes.

Computer Crash

The main major problem, which will certainly make your customer go away, is computer crash. It
is really frustrating for a customer if the computer they use got crash. They have to wait for reboot
or have to use another PC. And how will you assure your customer that the other PC will not
crash? If this problem is not solved, you will loose some customers.

Make sure your computers ware built by good brand of hardwares. Even though the specification
of those machines is up-to-date, the brand built is also important. Computer built by any cheap
motherboard with sound and VGA built-in will definitely crash very often. The worst case is the
computer cannot be use only after a month you start your business. You start with 30 units of PCs,
but in the end of the month you have only 20 units left! You just start your business and suddenly
you have to change 10 units of motherboards!

The best is to use branded PC, such as Dell, Compaq, Hewlet-Packard or if you got little budget,
built your own PCs by branded items such as Intel motherboard and processor, good brand of
memory and etc. Try to get the best product with your little budget, if can, increase your budget a
little. If you cannot afford it, do not install the highest end of games or software. Do not use
Windows XP. Do not install Half-Life2. Do not install Ms Office XP. But how you could compete with
other internet cafes?

Slow Computer
Another problem which will make you loose your customers. When your computer is slow, you
cannot install up-to-date software and games. You will make those PC crash often if you do that.
Although you cannot afford to buy the fastest PC for your cyber cafe, you also should not buy slow
PCs. Choose in the middle or a little bit higher than the middle. So you will not be leaved behind
by your competitors. If your targetted customers is not gamers, than you will have any problem
with slow computer. Install Win98, Firefox browser, mIRC and Ms Office 97 is good enough. But
slow computer still will make you loose in the competition.

Smoke

Do not allow smoking in your internet cafe. Smoking will only attract few customers, but avoid
more customers. As always, smokers can get into non-smoker area, but non-smoker cannot. So
we should choose the bigger number of customers. In the other hand, smoking will cause your
internet cafe stinky and dusty.

Not Enough Computers

The number of computers also has major impact in your business performance. Imagine if your
internet cafe is always 100% full. Customers have to wait for their turn. Of course, you will think
this is a good sign for your business. But unfortunately, this sign will only bring your business
down. In the future, people will always thinking your internet cafe is full so they will avoid you
internet cafe and go to your competitors' internet cafes. So, to solve this problem, you must make
sure your internet cafe is always ready for more customer. Your customer will be very happy if
there is always available PC for them when they come.

Employee Problem

If you have only 10 units of PCs, manage the internet cafe yourself. You will not able to pay your
employee. If you got 20 and above unit of PCs then this is the right number to get a worker to
manage your internet cafe. You cannot handle it by yourself. Employee also can bring your
business up or down, so you must be very choosy. Some of them may cheat the amount of money
paid by the customers and give their friends to use the computer free of charge. The best solution
for managing your employee is by using the best internet cafe management software. The
software must be able to log activity of the employee and be able to detect any suspicious activity
by the logged data.

Bad Maintenance

Keyboard and mouse are the most important hardwares for your customers. Think. These two
hardwares are the only hardwares interact with your customers. Bad maintenance keyboard or
mouse will only make your customer use it for five minutes and then run away. They want the
best for what they touch and hold. A higher budget for keyboards and mouses is needed to make
sure your customers' satisfaction.

As a conclusion, you can make sure you are leading the competition if you try your best to avoid
those mistakes.