Scan & Fix 50 registry issues FREECNET Editors' review
Free POS Software is a freeware point-of-sale system optimized for bars, clubs, restaurants, and other small businesses in the food and hospitality trade. The basic system supports two cash drawers simultaneously, which is sufficient for many small businesses, though it can be networked for multiple sale points. It accepts barcode readers, card swipers, touch screens, receipt printers, remote printers, and other tools of the trade. It also handles inventories. While it's free to use, registration is required, though that's free, too.
During the installation process, a Hardware Setup screen appeared. It identified our system and whether it had things like a barcode reader or receipt printer; we could select or deselect items as well as configure LAN, Bluetooth, or Serial network access as well as IP Address, IP Port, and COM Port for remote printers. Under Currency, we changed the default selection, the South African Rand, for US Dollars. This program's interface fills the entire desktop, which is typical of POS systems since it keeps operators from wasting time. The program opened in Demonstration Mode, which requires users to test the functionality of their systems to proceed to the main menu view. Here we could access the Setup, POS, and other features.
Free POS Software's color-coded controls on a stark black background make for good contrast and visibility, but we quickly realized this program suffers from the chief disadvantage of nearly all POS software, free or not: It's complicated and unintuitive, with interfaces that are either too busy or too stark, a clunky functionality, and some weird ways of doing things, many of which are doubtless related to the fact that running Free POS Software will probably be the host PC's only duty. Issues like being difficult to close (we had to use the Task Manager), which are inconvenient on a home PC, may actually be virtues when employees are at the till. On the plus side, it's free and it does a lot; with some effort, you could probably configure your POS system to be foolproof (not that you'd actually hire fools; we're just saying). We've seen POS software with basic, intuitive interfaces yet just as many features and options as Free POS. We recommend trying a few before committing your store.
Publisher's Description
From ProgramIT:
Free POS Software is a modern POS (Point of Sale) software package especially designed for use by restaurants, bars, clubs, venues, lodges, eateries and other concerns involved in the hospitality industry. Free POS Software is free - this means that there is no purchase price or licensing fee charged for the use of Free POS Software. The only requirement to use Free POS Software is that it be registered. Registration is easy and its free. Free POS Software is a multi-user system. This feature allows for the creation of multiple user profiles with selectable roles. Free POS Software allows for the creation of multiple stock categories. Stock categories are colour coded to allow for easy location on the POS screen. Free POS Software allows for the creation of multiple inventories. Inventories can be chained together to form a virtual inventory or be cloned or merged into a single inventory. Inventories can be imported and exported to allow for manipulation by other programs, including Microsoft Excel. Free POS Software supports multiple prices per item. Any item in an inventory can have up to five prices. The stock level of each item is tracked by the system allowing for accurate stock control. Free POS Software allows for the creation of customer accounts. Free POS Software supports the following industry standard POS hardware: A touch screen allows for easy entering of data and sales. A pole display keeps the customer visually informed. A receipt printer provides the customer with a printed record. Two remote printers allow for printing of orders at different locations. Two cash drawers allow for the use of a single system by 2 cashiers. A magnetic card reader reads the information off the magnetic stripe that is on the back of a plastic card. A barcode reader speeds up the sales process. Free POS Software can be networked to allow for multiple sales points. Free POS Software can, within a few minutes, be reset to work on its own.
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All versions:
2.3 starsout of 7 votes
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Current version:
3.0 starsout of 3 votes
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My rating:
Write review
Results 1-3 of 3
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"good program but virus protecter detects it as a virus"
Version: Free POS Software 2.0.4
Pros
neet orinised easy to use
Cons
showing up as a infected file
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"Great POS system for restaurants"
Version: Free POS Software 2.0.4
Pros
Extremely reliable and mature software, and great customer service for registered customers.
Simple to train employees to use this software.Cons
It can be time consuming to configure to your needs. It may require more technical experience on your end to maintain.
Summary
We've been running this software on in our restaurant for 5 years on 2 terminals without issues. It is very reliable, and I can't recommend it enough. If you are more inclined towards the DIY ethic, this will work well for you and save you thousands of dollars.
Our restaurant has a small dining area and most of our business is takeout or delivery. I was able to configure the software to suit our needs perfectly. -
"POS software"
Version: Free POS Software 2.0.4
Pros
Graphics aren't too bad
Cons
Very little adjustments to the setup are available and the ones that are don't work well. I can't print anything on my receipt printer because it says that I don't have a cash drawer installed, even after I installed a cash drawer.
Summary
Not very useful to my particular situation. I just wanted something to run an online test on my POS printer and this was pretty much worthless. POS can stand for a whole lot more than just Point Of Sale.
