Fingerprint readers

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sbwertz

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May 11, 2010
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Phoenix, AZ
So yesterday I was having to fill some cracks in some cedar handles one of my students at the blind center was making for the Woodcraft gardening tools. I have a lot of cedar at home, but it has been out in the weather and has cracks. I used crushed stone and CA to fill the cracks. As a result, when I got home, my smart phone and my tablet wouldn't recognize my fingerprints because I still had some CA on my fingers. Even after I got all the CA off, the fingerprint reader was being finicky. So I'm trying to remember what the heck the passwords were!
 
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monophoto

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Mar 13, 2010
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Saratoga Springs, NY
I've encountered that problem. My solution is that my phone allows me to store multiple fingerprints. I'm strongly right-handed, so when I'm in the shop, my left hand tends to stay much cleaner than my right hand. So my solution is to store a fingerprint from my left hand in my phone so that if my right hand becomes dysfunctional for some reason, I have a handy back.

Sorry about the terrible pun.
 

KenB259

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Dec 24, 2017
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Michigan
LOl I cant use them at work, the perils of being a penmaker. Thankfully, my phone uses facial recognition.
 

leehljp

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Feb 6, 2005
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Tunica, Mississippi,
I ran into that last week repeatedly! Frustrating when having to enter the passwords from Asian phrases instead of just using a fingerprint!
 

BULLWINKLE

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Nov 8, 2010
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Georgia
So yesterday I was having to fill some cracks in some cedar handles one of my students at the blind center was making for the Woodcraft gardening tools. I have a lot of cedar at home, but it has been out in the weather and has cracks. I used crushed stone and CA to fill the cracks. As a result, when I got home, my smart phone and my tablet wouldn't recognize my fingerprints because I still had some CA on my fingers. Even after I got all the CA off, the fingerprint reader was being finicky. So I'm trying to remember what the heck the passwords were!
On the positive side, now you know that the fingerprint readers really do work !
 

rixstix

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Jan 10, 2007
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615
Location
Canistota, SD USA
I use a password manager set for 18 digit, cryptic passwords so entering a password manually is a real PIA. All my fingers have some scratch, glue, etc that varies regularly, making fingerprint readers useless for the most part... even when I try Louie's method.

For that reason, I use 4, 5 or 6 digit PIN codes instead. I don't trust Mr Google to somehow use the software to share the fingerprint data or facial data with unknown sources. PINs can be changed.
 

WriteON

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Aug 21, 2013
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S. Florida
Interestingā€¦ my car has a fingerprint reader to start it. However there is no substitute for a brick or pry bar when "Locked Out"
 

sbwertz

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May 11, 2010
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Phoenix, AZ
I keep a list, not of the passwords, but of clues to the passwords. Problem was finding the list! For example, if I am using a pass phrase, such as a line from a poem, the clue might be the poet's initials. So even if someone found the list, it wouldn't actually have my passwords on it, and the clues would not mean anything to anyone but me. For example if the password was TANSTAAFL the clue might be RAH. (Not one of my passwords...that phrase is too well known.) I did finally find the list!
 

ccccchunt

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Nov 29, 2020
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Silverdale, WA
Happens to me ALL the time!!! I now have my phone set up for voice unlock. It's under accessibility settings and you can unlock your phone with your voice and a secret word.


I use this at work if I'm outside in the cold and wearing gloves.
 

1080Wayne

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Feb 5, 2006
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Brownfield, Alberta, Canada.
Happens to me ALL the time!!! I now have my phone set up for voice unlock. It's under accessibility settings and you can unlock your phone with your voice and a secret word.


I use this at work if I'm outside in the cold and wearing gloves.
Will it work if you have a very bad head cold , or is that still to be determined .
 

penicillin

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Feb 27, 2019
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I am not a lawyer, but here is something that a few people think about:

In the United States, the government can compel you to provide a fingerprint, your face, your retina, or other physical attributes to unlock your device. You cannot be compelled to provide a password or PIN. You may refuse under 5th Amendment protections. Note that much law in this area remains unsettled and could change due to appeals, new cases, or conflicting rulings.

In the UK, failure to unlock encryption upon request by lawful authority is a crime that can get you prison time on its own, independent of other crimes that you may be charged with. Saying, "I forgot" is not likely succeed as a defense (defence) strategy if you are charged. A few individuals chose to serve the prison time for failure to unlock a device as the "better" option rather than facing a conviction on whatever crime was being shielded by their devices.

In some countries, they do not bother asking you to unlock the encryption. They proceed immediately to the pipes and rubber hoses.
 

Woodchipper

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Mar 15, 2017
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Cleveland, TN
Sadly, I was fingerprinted by the Army and the Security Exchange Commission.
Regarding fingerprint access to cars...will it stop a thief? So many things have been tried but failed. Remember the locking steering wheel in the 50s and 60s?
 

yaroslaw

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Sep 1, 2012
Messages
344
Location
Kyiv, Ukraine
I have that problem all the time, and it's much worse if I cut my finger (and do it all the time also). Helps to have a few fingers from each hand sampled into device so I can unlock with a good one:)
 

sbwertz

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May 11, 2010
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Phoenix, AZ
I have a friend who has no fingerprints....none....never has had any. The tips of her fingers are perfectly smooth. It has caused her difficulty several times in her life! Adermatoglyphia Very rare, genetic.
 

penicillin

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Feb 27, 2019
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I have a friend who has no fingerprints....none....never has had any. The tips of her fingers are perfectly smooth. It has caused her difficulty several times in her life! Adermatoglyphia Very rare, genetic.
My mother-in-law has no fingerprints left, from working with chemicals that eroded them away over the years. She has trouble with the fingerprint readers at the state motor vehicle department, which records your fingerprint when they renew your drivers license. They have her try different fingers until one of them works, then they notate somewhere which finger was used.
 

Curly

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Nov 20, 2010
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Saskatoon SK., Canada.
My mother-in-law has no fingerprints left, from working with chemicals that eroded them away over the years. She has trouble with the fingerprint readers at the state motor vehicle department, which records your fingerprint when they renew your drivers license. They have her try different fingers until one of them works, then they notate somewhere which finger was used.
Toes have prints. Issue would be getting your foot up into the reader. šŸ¤­ You could use one toe as one of the fingers in your phone if you really needed a way to open the phone and your hands were messed up. You would look odd doing it though.šŸ¤£
 
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