Fingerprints

I’ve had the Dell m1330 now for almost two years and one of the things that I found handy about it was the built-in fingerprint reader. It’s an easy way to log on and kind of cool.

Our kitchen PC, the Dell XPS One with Windows 7 RC, has a multi-logon, one for each family member. I looked around and found a unit on Amazon from Eikon (about $40)that has a nice slim silver profile, rubber backing and a decent length USB cord.

It comes with the Upek software suite (Upek? Eikon?). The install is very easy and then it’s time to enroll your fingers. The creepy part is when it asks you to enroll two fingers in case “one gets damaged.” Five swipes and you’re done.

You can still type in your password, but the cool thing is that whenever you swipe your finger, the PC logs out of whoever’s account is up and logs you in automatically. Very convenient and pretty cool.

This item enables you to keep your password private, away from your kids prying eyes, and makes it super-easy for kids to log into their own space.