Windward Software products do not have an automatic backup function. Your backup in your business should include more than just Windward Software data such as spread sheets, documents and other files that support your business processes. We recommend you have your network technician configure and test your backup & archive process.

Your backup is only as good as your ability to restore.

The PCI Encryption keys need to be backed up as well. These can be exported to a file and backed up. Most customers have some encrypted database files. The key to opening these encrypted files is in the registry of your PC's. A normal backup to a memory stick does not include this information. You must periodically export your PCI Encryption keys, so that if your off site backup is all that is left, you can still have access to any encrypted pervasive files. This could be critical files only, all files, or somewhere in between.

• The PCI Encryption keys are like the combination to a safe. Your encrypted data is like data in a safe. If you take the safe home and leave the key on top of the safe, you are not really protecting the data in the safe all that well. Please consider

Catastrophic failure of your data is a real possibility.

• Natural disaster can destroy your network. (Fire, flood, hurricane, etc)
• A server component could fail such as the server hard drive.
• A virus or malicious employee could destroy your data.
• Computers along with backup media could be stolen.

Without a backup, you can seriously impair your ability to run your business and Windward Software may not be able to re-create your lost information.

• Please get an IT professional to work with you on how to do the backups, and it’s associated tasks. We do not want to get into the how to and will leave that to you and your IT professional. There are other things that are critical to backup as an organization that we don’t discuss at all.
• Please refer to our faq on backups as a resource: http://wiki.wws5.com/doku.php?id=faq:backup
• The what to back up is important
  • Backup the data directory (Use help > about menu, the shared directory is the directory you want)
  • Store a copy of the current executable files from the bin directory (use the help > about menu looking at the directories section for more info)
  • Save a copy of your PCI Encryption keys (All data sets have encrypted files)
• Good ideas:
  • Make at least 1 week of daily backups so they are available at any time
  • Archive each month end backup
  • There should be an off site component
• CRITICAL ISSUE: test your backups by restoring them to training.
  • Also, it is important to try to restore your data to a fresh machine (ex: a laptop that has never had System Five installed on it). To prove that you can do the restore if you lose everything.

1. Backup often as you don't want to have to retype your information. (For most businesses this is daily.)
2. Have several backup media, not just a single tape. (For most businesses this is several backup DVD's, CD's, Tapes or USB drives.)
3. One backup media for each day of the week your business is open, four week ends, two month ends and a yearly.
4. Take the backup's off site. (Most business owners or the person in charge of backup takes the last backup home with them.)
5. Verify your backup to see if you would be able to restore from it if it became necessary. (Most businesses do this yearly.)
6. Archive a backup from each month end so you can refer back to them in the future. Particularly valuable for inventory value detail.

1. Comodo backup software has a free backup solution that can archive selected files, compress, password protect and schedule.
2. Microsoft operating systems since Windows 2000 have come with a simple backup solution. This can be found from the Start menu, Programs, Accessories, Systems Tools and choose backup.
3. Offsite backup solutions are becoming popular, the disadvantage with this is restore time is based on your internet speed which may be an issue to consider. A low cost, offsite backup solution is Mozy Backup. Check out thier site for the different backup options they offer: http://mozy.com/
4. Any other backup solution that allows you to backup and restore your information.

1. Windward System Five data is normally stored in \System5\data folder. This is all your business information so back this up.
2. Windward System Five application is normally stored in \System5\bin folder. This program folder is needed to run with your data. If you choose to not backup this folder, you can choose to download the latest released version of our software if you were restoring but a data conversion may be required if you were running an older version.

1. Windward SpeedyPOS data is normally stored in \SpeedyPOS\data folder. This is all your business information so back this up.
2. Windward SpeedyPOS application is normally stored in \SpeedyPOS\bin folder.

1. Windward SpeedyPOS Plus data is normally stored in \SpeedyPOSPlus\data folder. This is all your business information so back this up.
2. Windward SpeedyPOS Plus application is normally stored in \SpeedyPOSPlus\bin folder.

1. Sign into your Windward Software version.
2. From the help menu, choose about.
3. Find the “Data Directory” and this is the location of your data.

To have a clean successful backup everyone should be signed out. To ensure this there are two methods available.

1. Have your backup program create a file GETOUT!.NOW in the data folder. Any users still signed in will receive a three minute warning before the system will shut them down. Note, make sure that after your backup is complete, the GETOUT!.NOW file is deleted. If it is not, then you will be unable to login to System Five.
2. In the Setup Wizard, Enable the “Time Out Settings” to have a time period when users can not sign in.

There is a file in your “data” folder called backup.dat (for older version of System Five, it is called backup.btr) which is attribed daily with an archive bit. If this archive bit is not cleared after your backup process is performed, the “No Backup Detected” warning message is displayed in System Five when logging in for the first time. Most enterprise level backup softwares have the facility to clear such things as an archive bit on a file, or have the ability to run a program after a successful backup.

• If that is the case, then have your backup software OR
• Execute a simple batch file that executes the command: ATTRIB BACKUP.DAT -A This will prevent the No Backup Detected warning message from displaying after a backup has been performed.
• You can also clear the archive bit with Windows explorer after each backup. Find your backup.dat file in your data folder and right click and choose options. Click on the “Advanced” button and uncheck the option “File is ready for archiving”. And then have the file READ ONLY.