CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 01/12/2005
- Released on: 01/01/2004
Once the software is installed, it's easy to get the fingerprint reader dialed in to you alone: you just log in to Windows, then touch the fingerprint sensor to register your prints. Microsoft recommends registering two fingerprints, and you can choose which fingers. After finger registration, pop-up menus instruct you to go to any Web site or program that is password-protected, then touch the fingerprint sensor with a registered finger to get the Create Fingerprint Logon prompt.
We first tried this using Internet Explorer on Hotmail.com. At the Hotmail login page, we touched the fingerprint sensor, and a window popped up. We entered a username and a password and, after clicking OK, we were prompted to touch the fingerprint sensor again and--wow--access to Hotmail. Easy as pie. However, when we tried the exact same thing with Mozilla Firefox, we weren't so lucky. We would get the fingerprint logon prompt, fill in the required password information, hit OK, and...nothing. After 10 or so attempts at logging in to different sites, we gave up. This won't be a problem for IE users, but converts to Firefox and users of Netscape will be out of luck. Microsoft has no plans at this time to support other browsers. Another minor annoyance is the ever-present light on the fingerprint reader. We found it slightly distracting whenever it was in our eyeshot. Buyers should also note Microsoft's security disclaimers, which explain that the device is for convenience, not security. The disclaimers recommend that the fingerprint reader not be used to protect sensitive information.
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