Thinkpads Forum

I am just curious to find out how many people are using the FingerPrint Reader ? I find it to be very hard to configure and when you do manage to get it right it's a pain in the as. Can't I do anything right ?

I would never use it, have no interest in it. For me it just complicates matters.

Mike

I don't have a Thinkpad with a FPR, so I'm not using one. For a brief time, I had a T60 with one, but I never bothered to configure it.

Same here. First encounter with one was on the SL500. Played with it for a few days and then never used it again. Most of the X60 systems I have came with the FPR but I'm not using them either.

rkawakami wrote:Same here. First encounter with one was on the SL500. Played with it for a few days and then never used it again. Most of the X60 systems I have came with the FPR but I'm not using them either.

My T42p came with FPR and the first action I do is disable it in Device Manager in order to save 1.5W power consumption in battery mode (FPR uses USB interface, when no devices are connected to USB the Thinkpad will "power down" USB ports).

In short, FPR is useless for me.

I haven't seen one yet that can handle my big toe, so I refuse to use them.

I guess FPR is useless for me too. Thanks for the heads up guys. I will quite playing with it and remove the driver thus saving valuable current. Thanks for the tip, Binh.

I on the other hand use it all the time and it works great!

I don't use it either. Still too finicky for me. Usually works but not always(at best).

Ron

Binh wrote: My T42p came with FPR and the first action I do is disable it in Device Manager in order to save 1.5W power consumption in battery mode (FPR uses USB interface, when no devices are connected to USB the Thinkpad will "power down" USB ports).

In short, FPR is useless for me.

I'm with you on that, every watt saved is a watt I can use on the road.

Mike

My T61 has one, I used it at first. It was easy to setup and use. But I after a while, I just never bothered...

~Steven

I don't use the fingerprint reader because I know how secure it is.

Oh, that and it keeps the bloody USB bus active all the time. Yay for brain-dead UHCI devices!

In hindsight, while it's impractical for some of us, it's probably a welcome addition for the traditional user of a ThinkPad: The executive.

I have never even TRIED the fingerprint reader.

When I first got my T60, I tried the finger print reader (with the Thinkpad software, and XP), I was not impressed, and decide not to use it. After I upgrade the OS to Win7, I tried the finger printer reader again, this time without the Thinkpad software, it works 99% of the time, and is much easier than typing in my long password. It helps when my fingers are clean (that is not so easy for a pipe smoker). So, I am now converted.

I use it for logon-only on my X61, T61 and T60p because it's there. (Why are folks suggesting that it isn't secure?)

When it works, it's a nice convenience. When it gets ornery, it can be a real PITA. Often upon booting or coming up from hibernation, there's massive disk activity (virus scan? update check? ) and it can be almost impossible to get the fingerprint to be sensed correctly. After enough failed attempts, one has to logon via traditional keyboard entry. Other times, the bootup is not intrusive and the fingerprint almost always works on the first or second attempt.

Guess I have no reason to dislike it and will thus continue to use it. I probably wouldn't have logon passwords in the first place but it makes Windows Home Server much happier to have a consistent set of reasonably-secure passwords, and my WHS box lets me automatically have all my machines backed up daily or at least whenever I power up after a few unused days.

Art

ThinkRob wrote:I don't use the fingerprint reader because I know how secure it is.

Oh, that and it keeps the bloody USB bus active all the time. Yay for brain-dead UHCI devices!

S E C U R E, hey ROFLMAO

ThinkRob wrote:I don't use the fingerprint reader because I know how secure it is.

Oh, that and it keeps the bloody USB bus active all the time. Yay for brain-dead UHCI devices!

alofano wrote:S E C U R E, hey ROFLMAO

I use it cause its convenient and I dont have to type ..?? Is it that bad? Less secure than just the normal Windows login/lock

alofano wrote: S E C U R E, hey ROFLMAO

I think you might have misread my post

No use for that space-waster FPR here either.
Disabled in BIOS, software uninstalled.

I set it up fairly easily but using it is another thing. I find it easier to just type in my login instead of swiping my finger half a dozen times. I do use it if I'm on the phone and get logged out while talking, but I find the fingerprint reader more of a novelty than a great feature.

It's very useful in a public setting where policy sets the password screen for 15 mins of inactivity.

Ultimately the hacks out there to bypass don't really matter to me as having physical access to almost any computer will get you in if passwords are the only protection.

One of my job functions that amazes people is how with a CD I can get into their windows machine in all of 5 minutes when they have forgotten their passwords.

I have FPR on both the T43 and the T60.

I have to admit it's a feature I kind of brag about, and some of my friends are even amazed by it and think the Thinkpad must be the ultimate business machine for having this feature. At least back in 2005 when the T43 came out.

But I also have to admit that I have NEVER used it. On the T43 I played around with it a couple of times, but on the T60, I have never even touched it once.

alkemyst wrote: Ultimately the hacks out there to bypass don't really matter to me as having physical access to almost any computer will get you in if passwords are the only protection.

While that certainly used to be the case, I would posit that with the rise in popularity of FDE and the like it's no longer a completely safe bet that physical access == data access.

FPR is the very first thing that gets disabled in BIOS on any machine that is to be used in my house...

Speaking of security...HD password remains the only fairly secure way of guarding your data...

As for theft, one should keep their eyes - as well as their holsters - open, and no theft will EVER take place...

My $0.02 only...

ajkula66 wrote:FPR is the very first thing that gets disabled in BIOS on any machine that is to be used in my house...

Speaking of security...HD password remains the only fairly secure way of guarding your data...

As for theft, one should keep their eyes - as well as their holsters - open, and no theft will EVER take place...

My $0.02 only...

except you can't be home all the time, I had three laptops stolen along with a total of $32k in items from my home one morning between the hours of 8-12.

kicker was I had just got off the phone with my alarm vendor. My equipment showed up the next morning

Sorry to hear about what happened to your home. I hope that they catch the bums.

I wasn't referring to being at home all the time, though. I travel A LOT...

What you've experienced is a burglary. What I was referring to is a theft...

Good luck.

except you can't be home all the time, I had three laptops stolen along with a total of $32k in items from my home one morning between the hours of 8-12.

here is the trick to not getting burglarized in Lantana: don't live in Lantana, or any other town that has a property crime rate higher than the average for the state of Florida (which is high itself)

try some nearby towns with really low property crime, such as: Parkland, South Palm Beach, Tequesta, or Weston

this link will let you find out all the goods on any town in the USA

I have no use for the FPR

1) FPR software didn't work properly under Windows - kept wanting me to re-initialize prints every time I logged in or something like that.

2) I got FPR software to work under linux, but then wireless connection wanted my password before wireless connection would start, so that was a no-win situation as well!

ajkula66 wrote: Speaking of security...HD password remains the only fairly secure way of guarding your data...

Uh... no. A hard drive password (in the ATA security sense) is almost entirely worthless as far as data security is concerned.

FDE is the only way to securely guard your data, and even then it's not invulnerable unless 1) you have a password/key that is both strong and secret 2) the machine is off at the time of the theft.