People often forget passwords, but not their index fingers. American Power Conversion's Biometric Mouse Password Manager is an optical mouse with a built-in fingerprint scanner that takes the place of conventional passwords, allowing you to log on to your computers and favourite Web sites with the swipe of a finger - goodbye passwords! The device also scans fingerprints below the surface of the skin so it's unaffected by damaged or dirty fingertips. Unfortunately, its design is basic, it has only two mouse buttons, and it's only compatible with Windows and Internet Explorer. Nevertheless, the Biometric Mouse Password Manager is an effective and low-cost solution for securing both your system and its data files.

Pros: Low price; effective; helps you to manage passwords
Cons: Basic, unattractive mouse design; supports Windows and IE only


American Power Conversion's (APC) Biometric Mouse Password Manager is an optical mouse with a personal fingerprint scanner, making it a snap to lock down your Windows-based computer or laptop and manage your passwords. Based on radio frequency (RF) fingerprint sensor technology, the solution lets you biometrically secure and log on to your computer as well as eliminate the need to memorise passwords.

With the proliferation of online transactions like banking, stock trading, e-mail, shopping, and credit card accounts there is an ever increasing need for data protection. We all know that we should have secure passwords that include a combination of several numbers and letters, but several different passwords makes it tougher to remember them all. A lot of people even write down their passwords on pieces of paper that could be lost or viewed by unwanted users. Why not post them on a Web site!

APC's new line of biometric solutions are designed to help solve this problem. The Biometric Mouse Password Manager provides a relatively convenient way to access your online accounts as well as provides a level of security that only fingerprint sensor technology offers. The device permits up to twenty different fingerprints or twenty different users to store passwords on a single computer system. Each user enrols using a finger as their identification source, which is then used each time the user logs on to the computer or tries inputs a password.

The black-and-grey Biometric Mouse Password Manager isn't exactly the sleekest or ergonomic mouse, but its 6-foot USB cable and built-in fingerprint sensor make using the device easy and comfortable. APC also bundles Softex's OmniPass Windows-based software that stores an unlimited number of log-in names and passwords and provides one-touch file or folder encryption with five different encryption algorithms. When using with Windows XP and XP SP2, the Biometric Mouse Password Manager even allows for fast user switching - at the top of a finger the shared laptop or PC recognises each user's personal configurations and passwords.

The device actually uses AuthenTec's patented TruePrint technology, scanning fingerprints below the surface of the skin to the live layer or 'true' fingerprint. TruePrint is unaffected by common skin surface conditions including dry, worn, calloused, dirty or oily skin that can affect other sensors' ability to acquire accurate fingerprint images for user authentication purposes. TruePrint is also the only fingerprint sensor technology capable of acquiring fingerprints under virtually any condition, according to APC.

Configuring the Biometric Mouse Password Manager to read fingerprints is quite straightforward. The Enroll Wizard lets you first verify a Windows password the traditional way (letters and numbers), choose a finger to enrol (you can use the same finger for all sites), and then capture your fingerprint. The latter is done by placing your finger lightly, but firmly and steadily on the biometric sensor.

The only issue here is to make sure that as much of your finger makes contact with the sensor and the surrounding drive ring as possible - placing only your fingertip on the sensor may provide insufficient image data for a high-quality fingerprint. Once enrolment was successful, you can add another fingerprint to the OmniPass database (useful if colleagues also use your computer) as well as set a standard password.

The Biometric Mouse Password Manager worked well in our tests, but it only supports Windows machines and Internet Explorer Web browser (Firefox support should be here this Autumn). We tested the device to sign in to Google's Gmail and Yahoo!'s Web mail services - the OmniPass pop-up window emerged from our system tray asking if we wanted to save our log-in information. After entering and saving our information, we were able to subsequently log in with just the swipe of a finger.

BIOS, Jun 28, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Input device