CyberCafePro Put to the Test

Being a smaller center I never felt a need to really look into café software. I figured it would just be this program that you would pay a lot of money for and never use to its full potential. But by the end of this review will my feelings have changed? Read on to find out.

First you’ll need to go to CyberCafePro’s website (http://cybercafepro.com). You’ll notice on their site that they state they are “The World’s #1 Downloaded Internet Café Management Software.” That is pretty comforting to know. To get started you need two files from there. One is for the server and the other is for your clients; they are only around 7 MB each. With the files being so small I thought “Man, it must not be a very robust piece of software”.

After downloading it was time to install. I wasn’t too worried about loading it on my server but I had just done fresh installs on all my machines and I really didn’t want anything to mess them up now. Otherwise a lot of hours would have been wasted. But the installation went without a hitch.

The downloaded software is in fact only a demo, which will let you set up one server and two clients. This allows you to get a pretty good look at the software for an evaluation. Once you purchase a license you can add all your other clients. This is where this little program in file size grows in value and capabilities. It has so many features I’m afraid I can’t come close to covering all of them in any great detail in this short review. Do yourself a favor: go to their website and checkout the whole list there; you’ll see what I mean.

Two key features that this center management software can claim that no others can is their CD key management software and their ESRB approved rating system. The CD management works with most games without a hitch and with a batch file for the other few. This ESRB is a great feature to use in order to keep the kids off of games that they shouldn’t be playing, and it should help give parents a little comfort knowing that the feature is there.

Another area that is important to mention is their support. CyberCafePro states that their new CCP Helpdesk ensures you a response within two hours on business days and is the only method to receive after-hours support. I can say I did have some quick responses to a few questions I had. Also look into their online manual and forums. In these areas you’ll find easy to use instructions that show you how to set up other pieces of the software.

The cost really isn’t that bad considering what it has to offer, plus being an iGames member will get you an additional 15% off the purchase of CyberCafePro software, which sweetens the deal. Again, check their website for more information.

I also should note that this review was done on the 4.5 version of the software; I am told there will be a 5.0 version that will be released very soon, if not by the time of this reading. 5.0 will incorporate Barcode Scanning Barcode Creation, which should make product data entry a much easier task.

All I can add is I definitely see a big advantage to going with this café management software now!

- DreamLAN by Jerry Weston