Upek Protector Suite 2009 Review

Today I had a nice email conversation with a nice gentleman at Upek, they requested that I remove the download of the 5.8.2 protector suite application and driver. They explained that it was because some users have to pay for this update. I gladly removed it as it is their property and was offered the chance to try their 2009 (version 5.9) for a test spin.

The 2009 version of Protector Suite is still not commercially available so you will not find it on the internet. When I downloaded the file, I ran the autorun.exe file. I was greeted with the screen below, it looks pretty familiar.

Upek Protector Suite 2009 Installation Screen
Upek Protector Suite 2009 Installation Screen

After Clicking on install you are then greeted by an EULA (End User License Agreement) which you must agree to in order to install the software. After installation you are required to restart the computer. The setup was smooth and all went well. After restarting you are presented a popup that notices that you have firefox installed (if you do) and you can add the plugin for firefox 3 (previous versions didn’t support firefox 3 to my knowledge).

Firefox Protectoer Suite Plugin
Firefox Protector Suite Plugin

After the plugin installation you will see the introduction screen, this allows you to get started and input your fingerprints or take a product tour if you are not familiar with this software. I picked Enroll your fingers now. I noticed that the software interface has been given the same glossy vista clean look, which makes it blend well with the OS.

Enrolling finger print in Protector Suite 2009
Enrolling finger print in Protector Suite 2009

You then have to click on the finger you want to enroll and swipe it fives times to make sure the software gets an accurate image of your finger. I decided to enroll all ten fingers, so if you do the math I scanned 50 Scans. After all fingers are scanned you can see this screen below.

Fingerprings in Protector Suite 2009
Fingerprints in Protector Suite 2009

You then need to enter your Windows password to ensure you are the correct user for the fingerprints. As you can see below it also shows you what you can do in this version of Protector Suite.

Windows Password in Protector Suite 2009
Windows Password in Protector Suite 2009

Afterward you get the Control Panel Home which shows you all features available broken down by category.

Control Panel Home In Protector Suite 2009
Control Panel Home In Protector Suite 2009

Below is the Identity Tab:

Identity Tab in Protector Suite 2009
Identity Tab in Protector Suite 2009

Below is the Applications Tab:

Applications Tab in Protector Suite 2009
Applications Tab in Protector Suite 2009

I really liked a couple of things about this update. Firstly its use of vista like aesthetics helps it blend in with the operating system very well, as if it belongs. Next Upek have outdone themselves with the new features introduced in this iteration. They have createdan E-Wallet application that can store Bank account/Credit card/Password information Securely. A Password Generator, that can generate safe passwords for any occasion. The Application Launcher is new and can launch applications with the swipe of a specific finger.Encrypted Archives was already available in previous versions.  If you are really paranoid you can even have the security level increased to having to enter your windows password along with your fingerprint.  Another reason I like this version is because they have made it easier to use for less tech savy people. In this version you can even export all settings for later importing incase of a format, which is very useful. Finally for memory usage while I was swiping my finger it was using around 13mb of ram. I don’t find this too bad as its running two background services. Overall It’s a great update from the former one, and I thank Upek for offering me this software early.

[rating:5]

7 thoughts on “Upek Protector Suite 2009 Review”

  1. Can you export data to import in .. say for example KeyPass? I use 5.8.2 version and I can’t export data in a format that other password storage utilities can import.

  2. Nice article. Do you know if the 2009 version allors to register passwords for 32bits apps running is a 64bits OS? V5.8 couldn’t but as it runs fine on Windows 7 64bits with the Upek legacy drivers, this would be the main reason to upgrade for me.

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