Cybermanager is currently the most widely used cyber café software in Kenya. This is mainly due to its rich management features and the ability to scale to the demands of the cyber. Its capacity has been tested with more than 130 computers in a busy cyber (Currently the largest in Kenya, Browse Internet Access), and to the surprise of many, runs just as efficiently as in a cyber with 3 machines.

System Features

Primarily, the software has the basic timing features needed by the cyber café. This keeps track of the period a user has been using a machine and makes it easy to bill the clients. The timer is not dependent on the client system clock for its functionality and so cannot be tampered with by the clients. It also has a wide range of security features. The main ones are:

¨ Disabling the Alt+Ctrl+Del when the timer desktop is on. This is to prevent users from circumventing the use of the software when they are using the machine.

¨ Disabling machine shutdown, Log off or restart when the timer is running

¨ Resuming on the current bill incase the machine is cold booted (Restarted from the power switch) when the session is on

¨ Recording the ongoing bill on the server side at a minute interval to ensure that the cashier can see what the client’s bill is at any one point in time.

¨ An option of locking of the machine till the current bill is cleared. This prevents a situation where the client uses the machine in several sessions posing as a different user.

¨ Remote logoff, Pause, Lock of the software from the server

¨ Remote Logoff, Shutdown, Reboot of the machine from the server machine

¨ Members are password protected to prevent impersonation

¨ The system users (Staff in the cyber) can be grouped to separate their roles. This is through the use of user groups and group rights. Eg. The Cashier may not be able to see the reports, terminate a session, remove the software from a client machine, create users etc.

¨ The system users are password protected to prevent unauthorized access to the server. The passwords are encrypted before storing.

Costs:

Minimum costs is Ksh. 10,000 and maximum cost is 50,000 (Unlimited number of clients)

Server installation at Ksh. 5,000

Each additional machine charged at Ksh. 1,000 (Minimum Ksh. 5,000)

Discounts can be negotiated.