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Fingerprint Readers

Best Buy: APC Biometric Password Manager

This $50 biometric fingerprint reader, half the size of a conventional mouse, costs much less than the competition and is the easiest to configure and use. Equipped with a 6-foot cable that's long enough to slide around even the bulkiest workstation, it plugs into any USB port. The setup program steps you through enrollment--you'll need to put the same finger on the sensor several times in a row--and you can enroll up to 20 fingerprints, or 20 users. At Windows log-on, you simply position the enrolled finger on the sensor, rather than entering a password. The reader will remember your Web site and application passwords, too.

, $50, American Power Conversion

DigitalPersona Pro

Digitalpersona's fingerprint reader (the U.are.U 4000) is a bit smaller than a mouse, and plugs into any USB port. The DigitalPersona Pro package sets up easily, and you can enroll one to ten fingers per user, or up to 20 users per PC. Like APC's product, the reader lets you log in to Windows by touching its sensor with an enrolled finger. It also lets you log in to programs and Web sites. The manual, a PDF file on the setup CD, is hard to find. We liked this easy-to-use device, but couldn't understand why it costs three times as much as the APC product, our Best Buy.

, $150, DigitalPersona

FreedomPass Mouse FM-8622

Onclick's $80 biometric mouse reduces desktop clutter by combining an optical mouse and a fingerprint reader in one surprisingly compact package. The FreedomPass is no larger than a conventional mouse and has a svelte, contoured design. The sensor, situated on the surface of the mouse, is conveniently located. But unfortunately, though the product is a great concept, it needs some work. In our tests, the enrollment software crashed frequently, and the optical sensor had trouble scanning our fingerprints, forcing us to press hard--and we mean hard--on the sensor to enroll a digit. (You can enroll only one fingerprint, but the device can register two users; for another $20, you can enroll an unlimited number of users.) Furthermore, the Help file was miserly on details; we had to comb the included HTML manual to learn how to store Web site user names and passwords. On the plus side, the optical mouse worked fine.

, $80, OnClick

VME BioDrive

Meganet's $170 unit is a USB storage device with a built-in fingerprint scanner and is about the size of a cigarette lighter. Its 128MB flash memory comes preformatted into two volumes: public and private. When the VME BioDrive is connected to your PC, the public volume is accessible to everyone, but the private portion is reachable via fingerprint authentication only. The device doesn't password-protect your system; its fingerprint reader guards only the VME BioDrive's private volume, not the data on your hard drive. Sample use: An auditor traveling to various locations might carry run-of-the-mill application software on the public portion, but sensitive audit data on the private volume. The BioDrive is easy to configure and can enroll up to 16 fingerprints, or 16 users. It plugs directly into a USB port, and also fits into the included cradle using a 4-foot cable that connects to a USB slot. If you need more storage, you can get a 2GB version that costs $862.

, $170, Meganet