Tag: USB fingerprint scanner

Article

Fingerprint readers like what this Fujitsu laptop is equipped with are now available at a reasonable price for your existing computer

Best fingerprint scanners that let you use Windows Hello on older PCs | Windows Central

My Comments

I have reviewed a significant number of laptop computers, usually business-grade laptops, that have come with integrated fingerprint readers. This is a feature that is becoming common with premium and business-grade laptops but is also showing up on premium-grade smartphones and tablets.

Here, this allows you to scan your finger to log in to your device, with it able to be used as an additional authentication factor or as the only authentication factor. During my tenure with the various fingerprint-reader-equipped laptops, I set things up so that I log in to these computers using my fingerprint and this provided an effectively simplified but secure login experience to the system and online services like Facebook.

But you can have this with your existing Windows computer thanks to add-on fingerprint scanners that are reasonably priced. Similarly a fingerprint-reader attachment may be the answer if your have a computer with an integrated fingerprint reader but this has failed or has compatibility issues with Windows 10.

Previously, purchasing a fingerprint scanner for your desktop or existing laptop was about buying a piece of overpriced hardware pitched for larger enterprises who care about their security. As well, there was the risk of compatibility issues with these devices and the operating system.

Now these reasonably-priced devices called out in the Windows Central article are designed to work out of the box with Windows 10 especially with its class drivers and Hello simplified-login functionality. In most cases, these devices are a single-piece device that plugs in to the host computer’s USB port. This can work well for most laptop users and could work well with a desktop computer if you use a USB hub or a directly-connected peripheral that has USB hub functionality and at least one USB port flush with its outer surface.

The BIO-Key EcoID device exists on the end of a USB cable which would be a boon for desktop users but may be considered as something that gets in the way for laptop users. It also has the one-touch scan setup which is a similar user experience to what happens for smartphones or recent-issue laptops like the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 convertible Ultrabook.

All of these USB fingerprint readers listed in the article are available through Amazon with most of them retailing for between AUD$30-AUD$45 per unit. At least it is a way to set up your existing Windows 10 computer for one-touch secure logon without needing to fork out for a business-grade laptop. You also then have that same level of security if you bought a business-grade laptop with this feature but you want to equip your desktop PC or gaming rig with this level of security.