Smart Card reader????

I was wondering what the Smart Card reader is used for. I tried playing around with it and put a laundry card in there, as it was the only thing i had with a chip in it and nothing happened. Do you need to enable it, the only thing i can find in regards to it is, security purposes and i need to put a password in and then it asks me for a password on bootup. Wondering whats the functionality of it. For me i would never use it but was wondering what it was capable of doing.

Thanks

Joseph

 

Some governmental organizations and businesses use it to secure the laptop - without a special smart card, the laptop will not function. It's useless to 99% of end consumers.

 

You can use that card with your laptop?

 

Here is some basic information on it: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/...olutions?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~page=5&~tab=4

 

I recently wrote something about smartcards and security in another thread, maybe it's of interest for someone who's reading this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4824267#post4824267

 

I was wondering how do you turn the reader on so that i can read cards? I put a card in and nothign happens. The only settings i can see is to set it up as a password???

Thanks

Joseph