As long as your computer has access to the internet, especially e-mails, then it may be only a matter of time before you fall victim to a 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 few 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 difficulty with your restaurant. POS computers being infiltrated, damaged and completely destroyed by these ravaging viruses, worms and Trojans. You absolutely have no way of protecting your restaurant POS system if you do not take extra precautions.

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

One of the deadly aspects of online threats is their ability hide their existence and penetrate your system without your knowledge. Hackers and the authors of malicious spyware and malware programs go to great lengths to create programs that are difficult to identify and remove.

That means a malicious program can be downloaded and doing its dirty work on your computer long 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 type of computer program that is secretly installed on your pc, it gather data and other activities you do on the interenet without your consent, then reports such data 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 programs, music files, and screen savers. While thinking you are only downloading a legitimate program to add emoticons to your e-mails, you are unknowingly also downloading a full load of spyware programs.

Malware: A portmanteau of the terms malicious and software. This type of computer program is specifically designed to infiltrate and cause extreme damage to your system, this include viruses, worms and Trojans. Malware is a bit harder to remove and will fight back when if clean it from your system. In some extreme cases, we had to wipe out the 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 easy targets.

Some of them have criminal intent and use these programs to steal money or aquire secured information from individuals and companies. Some have a grudge against the big software vendors and seek to harm them by attacking their customers. Others do it just for fun. Whatever the reason, hackers are getting more intelligent and sophisticated in their ability to gain access to computer systems and networks.

4 Simple Steps To Secure Your Computer From Malicious Attacks

1. Always remember to regularly update your antivirus software. You will want to make sure it has an 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 for MS Internet Explorer. Hackers have figured out ways to access and download malicious programs to your computer via a security hole in Internet Explorer. What’s more disappointing about this is that you don’t even have to click on anything or download a program to get infected. You are easily attacked if you’re using an older version of Windows such as Windows 98.

Though Mozilla Firefox is a free browser, it does not have the same security problem as IE. Many of my clients even report back that they mostly prefer using the Mozilla Firefox browser than Microsoft IE. Shifting from IE to Mozilla is a simple and a costless way to add another layer of security to your computer. If you want to download the Mozilla browser, go to www.mozilla.org.

3. Don’t] open suspicious looking e-mails or attachments. Because most viruses are distributed through e-mails you receive from anonymous accounts, and even from your friends. If you feel it’s suspicious, delete it immediately!

4. Using s 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 just buy a DSL or cable Internet connection and plug it directly into their computer with no firewall in between.

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 programs that automatically scan the Internet for computers connected via a cable or DSL connection without a firewall. Once they find one, they they’ll immediately access your computer, download vicious programs, and might even use your computer to reproduce their ravaging viruses to your friends or other computers without your permission.

It only takes one click of a mouse to gain easy access to your restaurant POS system, collect all customer or 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