M4400 Fingerprint sensor to log on to emails/websites?

Hi, on my m4400 it seems the fingerprint software is only used to log on to windows.

my girlfriend has an acer with a fingerprint reader, she can use it to log on to websites etc...

does the dell software allow me to do this? or do i have to download some third party software?

thanks

also, what is the difference between a UPEK fingerprint reader and the non upek one? lol... dell has those two options

 

The UPEK one is a narrow slit that you swipe your finger across, the FIPS compliant one is a larger square that you simply press your whole finger onto without needing to swipe across the sensor.

 

mine is the narrow slit. but on the dell website there was 2 options, fingerprint reader, or upek fingerprint reader.

the upek one was more expensive. if both of them are the slit variety, whats the difference?

 

Either the Dell website is confused, or I am.

Initially in the UK the configurator only offered the one type of fingerprint reader, while the USA web site had both the slit and the square FIPS compliant type (presumably to meet some US government specs for biometric ID checking in combination with the CHUID cards and hence the built-in RFID reader)

Later the UK site started offering both versions and they referr to them as "UPEK" and "FIPS" versions, actually I think both the slit and the square version are built by UPEK, the first being the touch-strip, the second being the touch-chip, they seem to charge more here for the square sensor. which they refer to as the FIPS version.

http://www.upek.com/solutions/physical/chipsets_sensors.asp

I went for the slit version because it was cheaper and I thought it sounded like there was more chance of linux supporting it with thinkfinger/bioapi/libfprint

 

well it wouldnt be the first time there's been a typo on the dell website. I reckon mine's the UPEK one then, and the FIPS one was the more expensive one which they mislabled.

so, any thought on how i can use this to log on to my gmail etc? the acer software on the travelmate lets the user do this..

 

My new laptop has now arrived, and I'm still not sure which type of fingerprint reader Dell call which, though it looks like the UPEK one is the "square touch" expensive one and the AuthenTec is the "narrow swipe" cheap one. I'm running XP, and device manager shows my swipe style fingerprint reader as part of the "Broadcom USH Credential Vault" device.

I've enabled the Embassy wave security suite, and this has replaced the microsoft GINA with a fingerprint capable GINA, within the ctrl-alt-del dialog you can tell it is reading the fingerprint scanner as the cursor briefly changes to an hourglass on each swipe, and eventually it tells you the user has no fingerprints recorded.

However when I try to enroll my fingerprints in DCP security manager, the fingerprint reader shows as a yellow light, it asks for BIOS-system and user passwords, and goes as far as choosing which finger, but then says "connect a fingerprint sensor", has anyone got any further and actually enrolled any fingerprints?

The Embaassy page lists the biometric devices that are supported
http://www.wave.com/products/esc.asp

and the actual reader on my E6500 looks closest to the AES2810
http://www.authentec.com/products-pcsandperipherals-aes2810.html

 

It seems that once the WAVE GINA is installed, it monopolizes the fingerprint reader, so that new fingerprints can't even be enrolled. I disabled the biometric login, rebooted and then was able to enroll my fingers, then re-enabled biometric login and it now logs in with a fingerprint swipe

I guess this means that the fingerprint reader *won't* be available for logging into gmail etc as afhstingray was asking.

 

so how do you rate the fingerprint reader as iv ordered a fully loaded e6500 with the fips fingerprint scanner and i heard that some folk have to make upto ten swipes to log on is this true

and lets hope someone comes up with a driver/app to enable it to log onto gmail etc

 

The swipe one is quite reliable, most times it gets it first attempt, so long as you use a consistent position and speed with your finger (i.e. remember what you did to enroll your finger and make sure you do the same when logging in with it)

I usually have much more trouble (e.g. on biometric locks on datacentre doors) with the touch style than the swipe style.

I don't think that'll be possible if you're using the fingerprint scanner with the Wave software as the fingerprint reader appears to be opened exclusively by the Wave software once Windows boots (the BIOS does allow fingerprint swipe instead of entering the system password before the O/S boots)