APC Biometric Mouse adds fingerprint reader to PCs
By Marc Perton 
posted Jun 15th 2005 5:31AM
posted Jun 15th 2005 5:31AM
APC's Biometric Mouse Password Manager may not be the first
mouse/fingerprint reader combo, but at $50, it could
still be a quick and easy way to add biometric protection to your PC. The device uses an AuthenTec fingerprint reader
and the OmniPass password manager to provide fingerprint-based access to websites, protected files and directories, and
the Windows login screen.
First to post. woooohooo I could pretty much write anything I want. But, I won't. This mouse looks sexy.....what's that hole in the middle for? Is that to put your finger in?
hum well yeah...
it is the bloody scanning window!
i dont know about that shit, i think its just about pretending "yeah kewl im l337 i live in minority report"....
I dont mind passwords plus this could get your finger cut off if someone really needed... ;-)
Or imagine the popo creating a worm/trojan that looks for the file in which your unique finger id is stored, then they could have all the prints they want without you even knowing it!
You slide your finger over the sensor for finger print authentication. We have been testing devices like this one at work for the past couple weeks to integrate into health care products. This one has a nicer price point thats for sure!
I had one of these implanted in the middle of my stomach. It didn't hurt, but it does gross me out most of the time. Plus, I get really annoyed when people poke me in the belly button instead of scanning their finger.
On a brighter note, I have real good security now.
AuthenTec!
I live in their home town, Melbourne FL, and have a friend who programs for them! They do good work.
Huge question, though:
Does it work with Firefox passwords?
Microsoft's Fingerprint Reader does not (unsurprisingly). I think that the Omnipass Suite that APC comes with is incompatible with Firefox.
Until it works, it's useless to me.
I've had the standalone fingerprint system from them for about a year now... only $40. It worked great for the first couple of months until I switched to Firefox. Omnipass does not work with Firefox, so it's fairly useless now except for IM clients. It did work great with IE though.
This fingerprint scanner worked okay with IE but is totally useless with Firefox. The hardware is reliable and fast. The software (Omnipass) is out of date, bloated, unreliable (often stops working for no apparent reason ... randonly locks up the PC ... causes memory fault errors). And the software does not work with Firefox and other non- IE browsers at all. I feel very ripped off. Although the price was reasonable, it would have been nice if APC had made it clear in their marketing blather that this device is ONLY for use with Windows & IE and nothing else -- and ONLY if you don't mind that the sofware works perhaps 75% of the time.
The Omnipass software is horrible. I'm a LiteStep user and whenever "secureapp" aka. Omnipass starts up. It monpolizes 100% of the kernel. I've tried other system tray modules but no alternative works. Not even the new xtray. And lastly, it does not work with Firefox. Is there an alternative to the Omnipass software that would work with the device?
Omnipass 4.0 will support FireFox. It will also support multiple fingerprint sensors such as Upek, Digital Persona, Authentec, Cross-Match, Secugen, Silex, Ethentica. All sensors will be supported interoperably meaning that you can enroll once on one sensor and then use any sensor you wish to authenticate. The company providing the fingerprint scanning/matching with so many sensors is 123id. Thought it was pretty cool myself!
Although OmniPass works with Firefox, it's a horrible software: consumes too much memory, consumes too much CPU power, crashes randomly. I switched back to the Microsoft fingerprint reader after I tried FingerAuth ( http://www.fingerauth.com ), an extension that allows using the reader with Firefox.