Home > Consumer Reviews > Microsoft Fingerprint Reader

I bought this product on the cool idea that I could log on to any Web site with the use of my fingerprint. It says on the box that this product "should" not be used in corporate networks so already I was feeling suspicious, but since the store I bought it from has a good return policy, I chose to try it out. Well, the product simply does not work if your PC a member of a Windows domain (so "should" as stated above is misleading). Also, as some other reviewers pointed out, if you don't use Internet Explorer (a smart thing if you care about security), then you can't use this product as it is hard-coded to work with IE making this product useless for non-IE users. This is a cool concept gone sour by stupid / stubborn product compatibility policy and bad software design.

If you are comfortable using IE and only intend to use it in a home environment, by all means, otherwise, stay away from this product.

Thanks for reading my review.

-Charlie

This is only great for convenience. You should still need to keep track of all your passwords in case your PC crashed or your hard drive dies. The biggest drawback I see is that this does not work with Netscape. Geez, I wonder why... It also does not work with password protected excel spreadsheets. It's great for logging into websites as long as you don't mind using Microsfot Internet Explorer. The Quicklink feature is very nice too. If you set up a quicklink to sign you into a website that requires a userid and password, this will be a great tool to have. All you have to do is let the reader read your fingerprint, at which point a menu with all your quicklinks appears on the bottom right screen and you just click on the quicklink that you want and it will automatically load IE and signs you into the designated website.

First, I want to list the system requirements printed right on the bottom of the package:

Windows XP Home/Pro/Media Center/Tablet
128 MB Ram
45 MB HD Space
Pentium 233 MHz or faster processor
Internet Explorer 6.0 or later OR
MSN Explorer 8.0 or 9.0

The package does not mention support for other browsers such as Firefox or other operating systems such as Mac OS or other versions of Windows (x64, 98, etc).

As for the performance of the device, it works great so far with my e-mail account, yahoo account and the student websites for my university. I am having some problems using it for messengers like AIM and Yahoo, but the package and documentation doesn't mention that this item could be used for such. The finger print reader works on the first try 8 out of 10 times, but it doesn't take much effort to just lift your finger and replace it on the reader again...so no big deal as far as I am concerned. It is still faster and easier than trying to remember all my passwords and type them in every time I go to a site. It is also much more secure than just leaving your cookies on your computer where anyone who brings up a browser can read your personal correspondence. All passwords managed by the software provided are encrypted so they are secure as well.

To change or remove passwords all you have to do is click on an icon that appears on the upper right hand side of your browser right next to the "closeout X".

On a final note, I know that some people may have a poor opinion because the unit has the "Microsoft" name on it but Microsoft actually has nothing to do with the manufacture of the item. It is co-branded with the MS name but it is made by a company called Digital Persona. So, Microsoft had nothing to do with the production of this, they just paid the company to make some with their name on it.

I bought this as a Christmas present for my husband and he absolutely loved it! He said this is the most convienient tool for a computer he has ever had and say's it's very idiot proof to set up, SUPER EASY! After the initial set-up of this product, it is a very safe and secure method to access your accounts. No more typing user id's and passwords, just "fingerprint it" and, in the words of Emeril, "BAM" your there. He say's he highly recommends this product! Good job Microsoft for this technology!!!!!

Microsoft Fingerprint Reader (DG2-00002) this product was developed by Digital Persona web site - http://www.digitalpersona.com/. They won't support the Microsoft labeled device.
My experience is that it works approximately 80-85 percent of the time on the first touch, the second touch raises the reliability to 95 percent (once it did not work at all --I had to reset my computer possibly because of other Windows software conflicts, then it worked).
In all I believe that the reliability for this inexpensive device is good.

The problems are:
The passwords you enter in with it are locked - you have no way to access your passwords for future use on another computer or if you reset-up windows (every 6 month for me).
The LED lights are always on (allows ready use) but it drains battery life on a notebook computer.