Tips and Tricks-March 2005

Over the years, I have tried a number of solutions to the problem of having large numbers of accounts, with user names and passwords and not being able to remember them all. I tried several programs advertised as password managers with no luck. One even caused my computer to become inaccessible until I yelled at the tech support people. I even tried writing my own database to manage them—problem is that you have to actually enter the data in the database.

Last summer, when I was at the Southwest PC Users Group conference in San Diego, the Microsoft reps demonstrated a new device that uses biometrics—a fingerprint reader. I had seen similar devices five years ago (or more) at Comdex in Las Vegas, but they were expensive and I never saw them around much for the average user.

Microsoft finally began offering them for sale near the end of last year and I bought one. It’s a standalone device that attaches to a USB port on your computer. It’s about the size of a business card and about .5 inches thick.

When the computer is on and ready to receive the oval in the middle lights up in bright red. They also offer a version that is on a keyboard and bundled with an optical mouse and a version that is packaged with a wireless mouse. Only the mouse is wireless.

You have to install the software first—the application is called Digital Persona Password Manager. As you install the software, it prompts you to connect the device. You have to train it recognize your fingerprint and it can recognize more than one person’s fingerprint. You train it to recognize at least two of your fingers (it will use whichever finger you choose).

The next screen asks you to touch your finger to the pad four successive times. My suggestion is to put your finger in a slightly different position each time. Once it has successfully registered your fingers, a wizard is installed in the taskbar. To see the contents of the wizard, touch the pad.

But before you do that, you can see if it works. Go to a web site that requires you to use a password. At the log in screen, touch the pad. It reviews the inputs required by the site and presents a dialog box for you to add your user name and password and to select the button to use for the login. If there are other fields to be filled out each time you access the site, you can select them from a list provided. Once that “account” has been registered, you will be prompted to apply your finger to the pad. Within a second or two, the information as been filled in and off you go. Thereafter, whenever you return to the login screen, touch the pad and you will be logged in. A small box will pop up in the corner of your screen that lets you know if you can start the log in.

I have added multiple sites and it seems to work with everything I have tried so far. It will not allow you to log into a domain using the reader. I cannot use it when I try to log in to the Novell server at work, but I can log into Windows with it. It will also log you into some programs that need usernames and passwords.

So far, all of that is the good news. The bad news is that there is no way to access the username and password information that you have supplied. The documentation specifically tells you that you need to record your usernames and passwords elsewhere. The result is that except for getting into sites and programs faster because I don’t have to hunt down the password, I still need to keep track of the information. I am hoping that the next version of the software might provide some help there.

The second disclaimer that appears in the documentation is that the reader is not a substitute for other security measures, such as strong passwords and not sticking Post-It notes with your passwords on your monitor.

I have seen other versions of the reader from other companies, including Targus (the ominous sounding DefCon Authenticator), APC and Sony. A web search will turn up over dozen varieties. The Microsoft reader and the Targus readers retail from between $40.00 and $60.00. I bought one of mine during a sale at Compusa for $30.00 after rebate. In addition, at least two new Pocket PCs, HP Ipaqs, have a reader built-in. In many instances, they are being offered as a security device.

This may be part of the solution for us busy (and or older) users who have trouble remembering passwords.

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Copyright 2005

Banner Photo by Charles Scamahorn