In this day and age when viruses, phishers and so many others are trying to steal your personal information security is something that everyone needs. Virus protection, spyware protection etc. can only get you so far, biometric security has been around for a while, and it uses your fingerprint for the security of your computer and its’ files. While the technology has been around for quite sometime, it has been rather expensive, and out of reach for the average ‘joe’ consumer. X-Gene has sent me over their new Biometric Keyboard for review, it is relatively inexpensive, and offers a higher level of protection for everyone. The X-Gene Biometric Keyboard not only secures your computer with your fingerprint, but encrypts files, folders, hard drives and is integrated into Internet Explorer to protect all of your personal information as well. This keyboard has many features that you can learn about in the following review…
X-Gene Biometric Keyboard
Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos
Sponsor: X-Gene
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
X-Gene Biometric Keyboard (PN: 01018)
Price: $55
To order, please call 909-598-6988
Features:
Personal data and Internet security
User friendly AP
4 special hot keys, 7 multi-media keys, and 5 Internet keys
Built-in 2 extra USB ports
Requirement:
Windows 2K, XP, and above compatible.
Specifications:
Fingerprint sensor type: Semiconductor
capacitive area type
Sensor Resolution: 508 DPI
Cable Length: 1.5m (59.05)
Interface: USB
Allowable Rotation: +/- 50 degree
FAR (Fales Reject Rate): 1/1,000,000
FRR (Fales Reject Rate): 1/1,000
Scanning Speed: 1 Second
Matching Speed: <10ms
Package:
Package Dimension: 385x223x40 mm (15.16"x8.78"x1.6")
Package Weight: 1.135 Kgs (2.5lbs, 40.03oz)
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A Better Look at Things
:
I like the packaging for all of the X-gene products I have reviewed thus far, it is very informative and includes a nice large picture of the actual product right on the front of the box so you know exactly what you are getting.
The back of the box has another picture of the keyboard with many of its features pointed out and even enlarged for you to get a closer look at. The specs and features are also listed as well around the box.
Opening the box up we find the X-Gene Biometric Keyboard wrapped in plastic for protection, and the user manual and driver/software disc on top of it.
Basically that is all that is included with the keyboard, just the manual and the disc. The keyboard connects to your computer via a free USB port and includes a nice long 59inch cord.
Besides being a biometric keyboard, X-Gene also included many popular hot keys as well.
On the far left side of the keyboard we have Internet and Computer hot keys, from left to right they are: Back, Home, Forward, Search, Email,Refresh,Favorites,My Computer and Calculator.
At the top center we find a set of multimedia keys as well, the standard keys are here for controlling the audio and video functions of your computer.
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A Better Look at Things
Continued:
The X-Gene Biometric Keyboard is basically your standard multimedia keyboard, but with the exception of a biometric fingerprint reader located above the numeric keypad.
The biometric reader looks like any other fingerprint reader you will find on other devices available today, and it is set into a finger sized inset in the keyboard.
Flipping the keyboard over we find four rubber feet and legs as well to incline the keyboard if you choose to do so.
Obviously the legs fold up and down or in and out, whatever the case may be. It’s nice to be able to choose if you want the keyboard angled or not.
On the back side of the keyboard, under the biometric fingerprint reader, X-Gene also included two extra USB ports to be used for whatever you may need them for. It’s always nice to have a couple USB ports, I know mine quickly fill up from the various devices I use.
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Installation, Testing and Comparison
Installation for the X-Gene Biometric Keyboard is pretty much the same as installing any other keyboard, you it in and you can use it, but if you want to use the biometric functionality you’ll need to install the drivers and software for it, and of course we want to do that. I did run across on slight problem with the software for the fingerprint reader, for some reason it wouldn’t activate or register, when you install it is is trial software, but X-Gene includes a key to make it full version for you. I contacted X-Gene and in about an hour I got a response and solution to my problem, apparently the key I got was wrong, that happens sometimes with review samples, but I was assured that retail products will not have this problem, and I have to say I like the fast response time from X-Gene support.
Once everything thing is installed, the software prompts you to record your fingerprints, you can use any of your fingers for this. In the following picture you’ll see some are highlighted green, those are the ones that I already scanned, or stored into the computer for recognition.
When you click on a finger that you want to add, another screen opens that prompts you to swipe your finger, it took 5 swipes on average for the reader to read my fingerprints, it does this to make sure it matches up.
The software does put an icon in your task bar, right clicking on it brings up a small menu with limited choices. The first one is to register your fingerprints, the second is to show the help manual, and of course you can exit the program as well. The help manual has lots of information in it, I needed to refer to it a few times actually to figure things out, it helps if I would have read through it first…but I’m a guy, and guys don’t need directions right?!
You can right click on the icon in the task bar for the small menu, but to access the real features of the software you need to double click on it and actually scan your fingerprint, access to the main menu is restricted to the fingerprinted user, of course though you have the option of entering a password if you choose…
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Installation, Testing and Comparison Continued:
As I mentioned in the introduction, the X-Gene Biometric Keyboard is for more than just securing your computer with your fingerprint, you can also have a secure partition on your hard drive as well. To access this you’ll need to open the main menu, and select ‘SecureLock’, when highlighted the options pop up, with two choices, ‘Unlock Drive’ and ‘Resize’, the ‘Unlock Drive’ option of course will change to ‘Lock Drive’ when you unlock it. To unlock the drive you’ll need to scan your fingerprint again, and the same for locking it. The second option is ‘Resize’, this option is obviously for resizing your secure partition.
When you open My Computer to view your hard drives and the secure partition is locked it will be invisible, but when unlocked it appears as another hard drive named ‘ENCRYPTDISK’. When unlock you can use it just like any other hard drive, or partition, drag and drop anything you wish to encrypt into it and then lock it to secure it. It really does add another layer of security to your computer, anything that you want private can be placed in there, and no one can access it without your fingerprint or of course the password.
The main menu also features a selection called ‘IE AutoLogin’, when highlighted a sub-menu will pop up as well. Here you can manage all you personal data that is encrypted, like passwords, credit card info, names, address etc from Internet Explorer. The software integrates itself into Internet Explorer and actually creates a new button in your IE tool bar. It’s nice to see an added level of protection for Internet Explorer, but sadly there is no Firefox support yet. The integration allows you to store passwords and other information, and it will be filled in automatically when you swipe your fingerprint, but it is stored encrypted so it is not readily accessible if someone should compromise the integrity of Internet Explorer, and yes it works fine with IE7.
On the main menu is also the same option to access the Help manual, and there is also another selection that is called ‘User Settings’, which as the others when highlighted open a sub-menu with more options. From the User Setting menu you can rescue your password, register more fingerprints, change the windows logo settings, change screen saver lock and the auto hide settings of the quick bar, or main menu. The Windows logo settings are for changing it so you can access Windows with just your fingerprint so when the computer starts and you get to the logo screen where you would enter an id and password you won’t have to, you just swipe your fingerprint and your in. You can also set the screen saver as well to lock your computer, and only be unlocked with a swipe of your fingerprint.
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Installation, Testing and Comparison Continued:
Yes we have more features to go over, probably my favorite feature, the software will add another option to the standard right-click menu called ‘Encrypt Folder’ this feature will allow you to encrypt individual folders if you don’t want to place them on the secure partition.
To encrypt a folder you just need to right-click on the folder you want to encrypt, the swipe fingerprint prompt comes up and the folder gets encrypted, the time it takes depends on the size of the folder. Once encrypted the folder becomes a different type of icon, even the thumbnails are not viewable anymore so the only thing someone will know is the names of the folders and files. You can open an encrypted folder to view it’s contents, but here again it is encrypted and you cannot see anything other than names and file types. I think it’s really cool that it encrypts the thumbnails as well, so an unauthorized person cannot even get a glimpse of the file.
Well that was a whole lot of stuff to go through… Now onto the actual use of this product, the X-Gene Biometric Keyboard, as I mentioned, is pretty much just like any other multimedia keyboard, with the exception of the biometric reader. That being said it performs just like any other keyboard, although I did find the keys a bit too ‘springy’ to the touch, almost as if the springs used do not offer enough resistance, I think it’s more personal preference than anything but I like a more solid key press. Other than that, the keyboard is fine to use for everything, I used it doing my everyday work and even gaming as well, and found it to be just fine for everything.
I ran into a problem when my system BSOD’d while playing BF2142, it happens sometimes, we all know how buggy BF2142 is but we still play it… but when the system came back on the keyboard was totally unresponsive, nothing worked, keys or fingerprint reader, so again I had to unplug it and replug it back in to login to my computer.
The fingerprint reader itself is a bit picky, but I think all of them are, I know a guy who has one built into his laptop and he told me the same thing, it takes a few swipes before it recognizes your fingerprint, so apparently that is not really a problem and is normal for this technology. It all depends on how you swipe your finger, the speed, angle etc have to be just the same as when you first swiped it. I do like the idea of being able to record more than on fingerprint, when logging on to my computer, if the first finger did not work, I would swipe the second and so on, for some reason my second finger work the best actually, why? Who knows…
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Summary:
Overall the X-Gene Biometric Keyboard is well made and durable, it seems like it will last quite a while. The extra added security is most welcome in this day and age when there are hordes of people out there trying to steal your information, and of course anything that makes IE more secure has to be a good thing right? The idea behind the X-Gene Biometric Keyboard is sound and I only found a couple flaws really, other than personal ones, X-Gene has brought this security technology down to a level that the average Joe out there can afford.
DragonSteelMods gives the X-Gene Biometric Keyboard a 4.5 out of 5 score.
Pros:
-Biometric security
-Ability to encrypt files and hard drive
-Extra USB ports
-IE Support to encrypt sensitive information
-Can use every finger for prints
-Multimedia/Internet keys
Cons:
-Problem recognizing device sometimes
-‘Springy’ keyboard
-No Firefox support
DIGG It!
I would like to thank X-Gene for the chance to review the Biometric Keyboard and for their continued support of DSM.
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