Many, many, many years ago I finally got tired of remembering all of my passwords, and started using an Excel file to track them. After a few years of that, I got tired of insecurely tracking passwords in Excel and started using RoboForm to manage my passwords. It had a few rough edges way back then, but worked well enough and also worked on my BlackBerry (yup, it was a long time ago). I now manage a few thousand logins and notes in RoboForm, and needless to say, it's pretty essential in my daily life.
So that's great. But there are still a few passwords I am having to constantly type. Every time I sit down at my desk, I have to login to Windows. I've been doing it for so many years that it's second nature. I don't even think twice about it--it's pure muscle memory. Except when I mistype my password or don't realize that Caps Lock is on, and it takes me 3-4 tries. Grrr.
The second password I am constantly typing is my RoboForm master password. So when a web site needs a login and I tell RoboForm to handle it, RoboForm will sometimes prompt me to enter my master password if I've just unlocked my desktop or have been away for a few hours. Again, I've been doing it for so many years that I don't even think about it.
Then came the iPhone fingerprint sensor called TouchID. It has taken a few years to gain traction, but now I can use my fingerprint to unlock my phone, pay for my groceries, login to my banking apps, and...access the RoboForm iOS app. It is absolutely fantastic. Typing my long RoboForm master password on my phone was moderately painful, so being able to use TouchID to unlock RoboForm on my phone was a wonderful improvement. Once you start using Touch ID, it becomes strange to see a password prompt on the iPhone.
Then, a few years ago, I bought a Surface Pro 4 (which I do not recommend, at all, long story). While shopping for the Surface Pro 4, I didn't know anything about Windows Hello, and I didn't realize that the Surface Pro 4 had an infrared web cam that could be used for face recognition authentication with Windows Hello. But when I saw that Microsoft offered a keyboard with an integrated fingerprint reader, I knew I wanted one. I waited a few months until the keyboard with fingerprint reader was in stock before buying the SP4, and I'm glad I waited.
After a few dozen firmware updates and software fixes made the horrible SP4 minimally usable and allowed the keyboard to actually work, the fingerprint reader on the SP4 keyboard was great. It was surprisingly fast and easy to use. It was much faster and more reliable than the Windows Hello face recognition, so I ended up using the fingerprint reader quite a bit.
But I still kept typing in my RoboForm password on my laptop...until one day I was poking around in the RoboForm settings and I accidentally discovered that RoboForm supported fingerprint authentication! Eureka! I don't know when the support was added, but I wasn't about to complain.
I enabled the fingerprint support and like magic, RoboForm unlocked with a touch of my finger. Wow. This was YUGE.
Having suffered for a few years with the SP4, I finally gave up and bought a real laptop, a Lenovo X1 Carbon 2017, and was thrilled that it had an integrated fingerprint reader as a standard feature. Having experienced how useful the reader was on the SP4, I was just as happy with it on the Lenovo X1. And after installing RoboForm on the X1 Carbon, I enabled fingerprint support and was on my way.
So life was then grand in mobile-land. My phone and laptop had seamless fingerprint authentication to login and authenticate with RoboForm.
Which made using my desktop painful. I actually...had to... type... my... Windows... password... every... single... time...I sat down. After being spoiled by my iPhone and my laptop, it felt like a complete anachronism to actually have to TYPE (gasp!) my password! Barbaric!
I apparently started to get rusty and seemed to regularly mistype my password on my desktop. I then had several cases where it took me 4 or 5 password attempts before realizing Caps Lock was on. Ugh. I felt like I was in the stone ages, where Minority Report style authentication didn't actually exist. It was...unacceptable.
So I searched for desktop fingerprint readers for Windows. And...I was underwhelmed. I found one that looked legit, for about $100, but the reviews were very mixed, citing driver issues and reading that the company had apparently been acquired and that they seem to have disappeared. After seeing the mixed reviews on other models, I gave up.
But after a few more weeks of password typing punishment, I tried again and figured I would reconsider the small mini fingerprint readers that seem to have been designed for laptops. A few seemed okay, but again, mixed reviews.
After a few more searches, I found one that seemed legit, and seemed designed for Windows 10 Windows Hello authentication. (there are probably a few others that work well, but caveat emptor and read the reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XG4MHFJ/
It was only $32 on Amazon and seemed to have pretty good reviews, so I gladly bought. I plugged it in to my Windows 10 desktop, Windows automatically detected it and set it up, and then I added a fingerprint in Windows Hello. I then enabled fingerprint support in RoboForm.
UPDATE May 3, 2018: I purchased the PQI fingerprint reader in August 2017, and by Spring 2018, it was acting flaky. Windows wouldn't gradually stop recognizing my fingerprint. If I reset the fingerprint in Windows Hello, it would work okay for a few days, but then it would eventually 'drift' and have a hard time recognizing me, until after a week, it wouldn't recognize my fingerprint at all.
So I just bought a new Kensington model to try.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NAVWPOJ/
So far it seems to work fine, but I'll see how well it works in 6-12 months.
Based on my tests so far, it works great. I can now unlock my desktop by very briefly touching the sensor with my finger. And I no longer have to type my RoboForm master password, which is a huge, huge benefit. Just like my iPhone and my laptop. No more passwords.
To make it more accessible and easier to use, I plugged the fingerprint sensor into a USB extension cable and then attached that cable to the back of my keyboard with a little hot glue. Now, whenever I need to login or enter a password, I just move my hand to the left side of my keyboard and give the sensor a quick touch.
It's quite surprising how fast it is, and it's much, much faster than typing my password. In fact, I don't even have to press a key on my keyboard. From the Windows lock screen, I can just touch the sensor and login.
Once I'm in Windows, when I need to unlock RoboForm, it's just a quick touch to the sensor. and it's unlocked.
If you aren't using fingerprint sensors on every device you own, I highly recommend it. I now use fingerprints on my iPhone, iPad, laptop, and desktop and it's a huge convenience. You don't realize what a hassle passwords are until you start using your fingerprint to authenticate.
It's taken me several years to use fingerprints on all of my devices, but I'm finally there and it's glorious.
Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP in
Los Angeles. He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides
Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.
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