Home > Consumer Reviews > Microsoft Fingerprint Reader

I saw this thing at CompUSA and as a good shopper I went and did my research on line. I think this is an excellen X-Mas gift for any people who like computers and such. I got mine installed in 5 minutes. One reboot and ready to go. This gadget is easy to set up and to use. Definitely a lot of fun. Now, why didn't it get 5 stars you ask? Two things, does not appear to work well with Mozilla Firefox browser and it is not 100% secure. Right in the manual it is written that this gadget is not to be used for sensitve web sites like say your bank account. Well, all the sensitive web sites have these password rules, got to have a "-" or something in your password. Who is to remember this nonsense? I was hoping this thing would do like a super duper encryption and allow me to store passwords on like a USB flash memory drive so I can unplug it when I am on vacation or something, but nope, no such luck. Still quite a cool gadget, I can get the browse opened and be logged into Amazon just by putting my finger down on the gadget and clicking on Amazon.com account ;)

This fingerprint reader from Microsoft is very accurate. Setup is very easy. To set it up, you install the software and restart, now the screen comes up. It recommends you have it read at least two fingers. It reads each finger four times. Then it is finished. Logging into website's is so easy! All you do is place your finger on the reader and it logs you in. The only downside I see is if you have multiple accounts for the same site. You can only use the reader for one account(or register a different finger as a different person), but that is negligible. For only $49, this is a great buy!

This is a very convenient device for saving website logins and passwords so you don't have to enter them all. However, if you replace your windows log on with the finger print log on, BEWARE-- it replaces that menu both in regular boot up and in safe mode. Somehow my logon menu got corrupted, and would basically lock the computer up after it booted up. Even after unplugging, even in safe mode, I couldn't log in. Also, I couldn't find a way to boot with another device and edit some ini file or replace something to get windows to default back to the normal login pad. I work in IT, so I'm not the average computer user, and still ran into some "gotchas" with the device. I had hoped to boot in with safe mode, uninstall the software, and reinstall it. That was a no go. Even in safe mode, you can't use the old control alt del to get in if its software gets corrupted.

It was accurate at scanning my fingerprint and did add conveniences, at a risk.

It scans your fingerprint and does a pretty good job at recognizing prints. Not using IE, I use it mainly for Windows login. I couldn't help feeling that with the right software it could be much better.

This is essentially a tiny scanner for reading fingerprints. The red light stays on all the time the device is plugged in, which can be irritating to some people. The software, as Microsoft did warn, only works with IE and for Windows login on XP.

When I installed it the first time, it warned me that I don't have a password on my account (true). So I immediately went and changed my password, and subsequently it wouldn't log me in through scanning my fingerprint. Going through the Wizard again didn't help. I finally had to uninstall and reinstall the DigitalPersona software that came with the scanner.

It would be so cool if it comes with an API so that other applications can easily integrate fingerprint recognition into themselves. It'll also be good if Microsoft actually put some thoughts into the security aspect of the product (encrypted USB communications, etc). But it does work pretty well at what it is supposed to do, and it's much more convenient unlocking my screen after I've walked away from it.

This is really good fingerprint reader, it is fast and it reads from the first time when you put your finger on the reader, it has 3 problems, let me explain in details,

Problem #1: Any change in web address will require to put the username and password again so you will be able to access it with your fingerprint.
Example:
http://mail.yahoo.com/?.intl=us
http://mail.yahoo.com/
Problem #2: If you have like 2 email address on yahoo, hotmail or email server. The device won't know which email do you want to access.
Problem #3: If you format your computer you have to do again assinging usernames and passwords there is no BACKUP for what you have assigned.

Hope this review will be usefull for you