Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business NewsCopyright 2001 The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
January 11, 2001, Thursday
KR-ACC-NO: PH-TECH-REVIEW
LENGTH: 1128 words
HEADLINE: The Philadelphia Inquirer Technology TestDrive Column
BYLINE: By John J. Fried
BODY:
UMATCH MOUSE:
Biolink Technologies International Inc. Windows. About $ 129
My mother warned me to beware of beguiling strangers.
I didn't listen and now have paid the price. Here's my story, sad but true:
In November, walking briskly to Comdex's main exhibit hall, I suddenly found my path blocked by a tall, young, blond woman.
"Would you be interested," she asked, flashing a come-hither smile, "in learning about a new biometrics mouse?"
Getting a head start on interesting technology is what passes for a good time at the mammoth annual computer conference, so I signed up to receive one of her mice.
I was intrigued because a device designed with biometrics technology can recognize an individual's fingerprint, face shape or iris pattern.
Thus, biometrics technology can be turned into security technology: An individual can gain access to the functions of a biometric device only if it has a record of, let's say, the individual's fingerprint.
With this biometric mouse -- the product of a Miramar, Fla., company -- I could do away with all those passwords I had memorized or written down in various places.
By merely placing my thumb on the mouse's finger-scanning window, I would get access to my computer, password-protected files and Web sites that require me to log on.
Things started off on a promising note.
I connected the mouse, installed its software, and very quickly trained the mouse to recognize my thumbprint.
After a required reboot, Windows started loading, then stopped. A message popped up asking me to put my thumb to the scanning window -- which is conveniently placed where my thumb would rest anyway.
I did as I was told and was rewarded by a message saying that I had been recognized. Windows went on with setting itself up.
That, however, was where the fun ended.
The printed manual that comes with the mouse outlines, in 10 languages, the process of attaching the mouse to the computer and installing the software.
But there is not a word in there about configuring the mouse to deal with the myriad of situations in which I would want to use its biometric capability in lieu of passwords.
There is an online manual, but it failed to yield information on how I could do what I wanted.
And then both the mouse and I blew it. Completely.
Eager to get on with testing other products, I removed the biometrics mouse, shut down the computer, reattached my regular mouse and rebooted.
Windows stopped loading and, as you guessed, up came the message requiring me to present my thumb -- a request with which I could no longer comply.
Figuring there had to be another way in, I decided, quite randomly, to press the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys.
I was relieved when the UMatch mouse's software responded by posting a box asking that I enter a password I had been required to make up in order to act as the UMatch mouse's administrator.
I glanced at my notes, which included the password I had chosen, and typed it in.
Go away, the mouse's software told me.
Nothing I tried would give me access to the computer. I was locked out, barred, exiled.
To some extent, the ruthless way in which the UMatch software warded off my efforts to get back into my computer even though the mouse was gone was a mark in the system's favor.
But you would think that a company manufacturing such a potentially important device would stand ready to help users who get into trouble.
The tech support department, though, must have been off collecting souvenir chads. My first call to it down in Florida wound up in the department's voice mail.
A second call, placed to the marketing department, got me a sympathetic ear and a quick transfer to tech support -- and another audience with voice mail.
A third call to tech support resulted in another dance with voice mail. Some 20 hours after that last message, tech support still had not called back.
How was the lockout finally resolved?
I opted to have Windows display its selective startup menu by pressing the F8 key before the Windows splash screen appeared.
Then I went for the option -- number 4 on the startup menu -- that would permit me to choose which components of Windows I did not want started and blocked the Registry from loading.
That put me into Safe Mode, where I could call up the Registry Editor and, with its help, obliterate all references to Biolink, the mouse's maker.
After that, I was able to boot normally into Windows and uninstall the Biolink software -- something that I should have done before yanking the biometrics mouse.
So remember your mother's advice: Beware of overly pretty packages. More information:
biolinkusa.com
web.lexis-nexis.com
steve |
