Eikon Digital Privacy Manager - USB fingerprint reader

Descriptions and docs say this works with Win 7 64-bit, but it does not. Too bad, it seems like a good quality scanner and the scanner seems to work fine but the software is not compatible with my Win 7 64-bit SP-1 system.I installed the 2009 software from the CD and the then the scanner as instructed. The software loaded and scanned my fingerprints. It seemed to be working fine. Logged off and back on, all fine. Then I rebooted the system and even before windows started the screen gets all messed up with lines and weird characters all over the place. Then windows crashes while trying to boot. Thankfully windows recovery restored my system and removed the scanner software but it looked bad for a while. This does not appear to be a new problem. Looking at the support site there are several others with similar problems. AuthenTec, the software vendor, has a newer 2011 version of the software and drivers specifically for Win 7. I tried installing these as well and had the same results.It is really unfortunate that poor software is going to kill what appears to be a good quality product. When it was working it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for to make the password issues for my users easier. I have contacted support but they have not responded yet.You can see their support forum here:[...]

I am paranoid about passsword security, partly because I am a programmer and I know too well how easy it is to defeat any secure system simply because people are too lazy to use strong passwords. Whenever possible I tried to use long tedious passwords, which meant a lot of copying and pasting to and from an encrypted file, which was simply too much a pain. I was told about KeePass, which is basically an encrypted passwords vault and password generator with very rudimentary browser integration, and it has some mirror/remote features that outweigh the rudimentary controls. I was happy wit KeePass until I learned that Windows 7 allows the use of fingerprint scanners to log in, and that this particular fingerprint scanner came with a password vault and generator that more or less mimics the way KeePass works.I should have bought this at least six months ago. Installing it was simple and did not give me any 64-bit driver drama. The packaging doesn't explain very well that it has a license to the full version of the passwords vault (Protector Suite 2009) but it only meant an extra minute looking around. The only real hassle is having to register the dozens of credentials that I use.Setup: Install applications off the CD, reboot, plug in the device, then register your fingerprints. Registering the fingerprints takes less than one minute per finger.The good:It allows you to use very long passwords, basically as long as the login form can take, since all you need to login is a finger swipe. Even if the device malfunctions, you have a password that can be used to access the passwords vault manually. This means that if your machine is not set to remember passwords, and somebody manages to access your machine, they will not be able to access your websites and secured applications since they will need either your fingerprints or your master password. It is much easier to remember one long password than a few dozen.It also allows you to log into Windows, which is nice but it is not as impressive as the ability to deal with all of those online credentials. Setup for this feature was pretty much automatic.The not so good:The settings menus for the Protector Suite could help from a usability review. Nothing major here, for example I couldn't figure out how to move the location of the data files, which makes it harder to make it play nice with dropbox or other online folder sync services.Swipes are not instantaneous, but the one second delay for the swipe and the login operation are a lot less of a hassle than having to remember which account and password goes with which challenge. After about a day I stopped minding the delay.A mounting bracket would be nice, but it is nothing I can't fix with a strip of velcro.Overall I am extremely pleased. This is the last time that I order a laptop without a built-in fingerprint scanner and I will probably buy a couple more Eikon fingerprint units for my wife's Windows laptop and my son's iMac.Update: 10/7/2010 The shift to using the fingerprint scanner for everything was pretty much painless and very natural. Now I instinctively reach for the scanner whenever a password is requested. The Protector Suite flashes a red outline in pages that have a login box and are already registered, so it becomes a reflex to see the red outline and immediately reach for the scanner. It also works with Windows networking credential challenges in Windows 7, I have been able to use it to authenticate IIS and Remote Desktop access challenges.There are exactly two things I can't use with this scanner:1. A specific online bank that uses a weird, non conventional sequence to log you into an account. This is not a flaw in the Protector Suite or the scanner, it is simply a really weird website.2. One or two websites with really weird AJAX overlays for the login, the software can't tell that the page has triggered the login box.Except for these two, it works pretty close to perfectly. And yes, I still notice the delay, but the delay is shorter than the time needed to remember which password to use and to type it.

Software installation and initial training took about 15 minutes. The finger print reader works flawlessly on my Mac Pro with OS 10.5.5 installed. It also works with Windows XP Pro running on the Mac under VMWare (I used a separate software install for the Windows virtual machine). The software for Windows has more capability than does the Mac version, but the Mac version handles log in as well as the Keychain access, the most important things.UPDATE 22 May 09--After several months of trouble free performance, the sensor unit presented an error message at the log in screen. I requested support on the Upek web site and received a reply within a couple of hours. They provided me with a utility to recalibrate the sensor but I had to report that was unsuccessful. Upek support then promptly sent me a replacement sensor that arrived in a few days. I'm very impressed with the proficiency and professionalism of Upek's support staff--I'm a happy camper again.UPDATE 12 Dec 09--Snow Leopard is still not supported several months and 2 OS updates later!!UPDATE 4 Feb 11--It's now 2 years since I purchased this device and while it still operates OK, the Mac software is still in beta and the long promised support for password management has yet to materialize. The company is apparently not capable of supporting the Mac OS.BEFORE YOU BUY FOR A MAC: Consider that, without associated password managment software, the unit essentially only performs the same function as typing in your account login password--it's hardly worth it.

In Windows 7 this reader will work for awhile to logon and then will quit working and then I have to delete the saved fingerprints and re-scan them. It will then work for awhile and then quit working again. I believe it to be a software problem as the reader works fine in Windows 10 with the native drivers. Had I known that the software had been sold to Apple and you cannot get updates for it, I would not have ordered this reader. I have ordered another brand and will see if it works better. This one is too inconsistent to use in Windows 7.