Customer Reviews

Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer with Fingerprint Reader

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First off, let me say that the price is more than worth it just for the mouse (I got mine for about $35). It has side scrolling, which was new for me, and really nice. The other great thing are the programmable thumb-side buttons, which I have set for Back/Forward--really handy for web surfing. It's a comfortable fit for the average hand. The only weird part, if you're used to an older scrolling mouse, is that the scroll button scrolles smooth (no bumps as you move the wheel), which is something I'll have to get used to. Overall, a great mouse.

As for the fingerprint reader, I think it's a big help. There are plenty of password sites that I rarely use and have a difficult time remembering the password/username for. The reader is great for those, along with other unimportant sites (NOT for sites that require better security measures, i.e. sites that do financial transactions, bank, etc.) While it is a great time saver, there are a couple of downsides:
1) If you forget your password(s) and the reader malfunctions somewhere down the road, I hope you have a REALLY good memory.
2) It only works for Internet Explorer, so all you Firefox, Opera, Safari, Netscape, etc. users are out of luck.

On the whole, the package is a great deal, if you can find it near the price I did.

At first I was skeptical. Firgerprint reader at this price?

I took a chance and am very pleased. The fingerprint reader alone is worth the price, let alone the addition of the wireless optical mouse.

The fingerprint reader works really well. It's easy to make it remember your accounts and passwords. It's also very fast. No more frustrations in trying to keep up with an ever increasing number of passwords.

Glad I bought it; works great. Pretty intuitive. Play with it for 15 minutes and you've got it figured out. Running XP Home, I found it was unnecessary to install the included mouse driver. Negatives: NOWHERE - not in/on the box or the manual -do the geniouses at MSFT tell you that the FP reader is also the receiver for the mouse, so you look for a separate receiver in the box and assume it is missing. (Yes, you may put the reader on one side of the keyboard and the mouse on the other.) If you have several screen names with the same ISP, you must use the same password for all of them.

I once rated the fingerprint reader very highly....when I was running IE6. Now, with Internet Explorer 7 it plainly does not work. It will crash the app every time. MS sent out an updated driver that fixed the problem only on IE6, so until they decide to fix the problem, I'm stuck with a glowing red paperweight. Another issue that I have is that it doesn't work with other browsers. Another way MS can monopolize the market.

On the mouse end, it's definately a good product. Accurate and quick. The ONLY change I would make is some sort of low battery indicator. When the batteries run out, it just stops working without warning.

As of this review, there are no drivers that will allow the reader to work with IE7.

I have this reader and the APC Bio-something. And the APC is sooo much better. I find myself teaching this reader my password 9 times out of 10, and using it only shortly after. Perhaps a software issue. Either way, you shouldn't have to think about it. The APC, I am never worrying about...I know it's there and ready. Too late to return this - but beware.

I gave this kit a four only because the scroll wheel on the mouse does not have detents; it rolls way to freely without clicks which makes it hard to control at times. For example, a when trying to scroll through a drop down list, the lack of a clicking feature causes you to jump several selections at a time. the mouse is rather large but it is comfortable for me. The 5 buttons are programmable and positioned ergonomically well.

The fingerprint reader is great added security, from what I understand it is not bullit proof security but I guess if someone really wants to steal my data they will get it somehow regardless. This is secure enough for me and functions very well. It does not inherently work with firefox web browser but there are extensions that make it work.

The finger print reader is the receiver for the wireless mouse. I've found the the batteries last a very long time in the mouse; six months or more and I use it every day.

I recommend this kit.

When I saw this product on amazon, I really liked it, more so for the price. However, I hardly use the fingerprint reader now. Reason: it doesn't work with Windows logon*, MSN messenger and Firefox.... oh did I tell you that Windows and MSN messenger were also made by Microsoft?

*I can log on to windows using fingerprint reader when I first start the computer, but not when login screen appears after a screensaver. I have an IBM laptop with a fingerprint reader which doesn't have the same problem

His fingers are too wrinkly to register making the finger print reader useless for him.

It works fine for me although I find it a little slow to respond sometimes.

i highly recommend this product
very simple to install and hook up
very easy to use
ive had this for about a month and no problems at all

I am just an average user, I check my email and casually surf. I probably average an hour or two a day and I think this thing is super! I got it so I could monitor my child's (15 year old) computer and internet use use. She was getting pretty good at figuring out my passwords. Another plus is I don't have to type in my passwords all the time to sites I visit regularly (i.e. shopping sites, my email,...etc.). Although I have several people in the household it recognizes each one, logging only them in to their individual identities. For the price it is a really handy thing. The one drawback which is really trivial is that sometimes I have to try it a couple times for it to correctly recognize my print, but that is only a couple of extra seconds, compared to having to type my info in every time. All in all I think it was definately worth the money!