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Getting Fingerprint Readers to Read Your Prints?
crypticgeek asks: "I recently obtained a new job, and I'm already at my wit's end. Many of the doors in our facility have finger print readers because they are high security areas. No matter how hard I've tried, I can't get the system to read my prints very well, since they aren't well 'defined'. This means I don't have access to the areas I need to. I have to have someone else let me in to secure areas. I've tried using lotion thinking they were too dry, but that didn't work. In fact, most of the time my hands are really sweaty. Someone suggested I use nail polish remover and that would 'raise' the print, however I'm skeptical. Has anyone else had problems with finger print devices, or know of some possible ways of getting a better read?"
The FBI has a special recommended way to clean hands before getting prints. You washed your hands in soap, then rinsed in alcohol, and then air dryed, no towel.
Sit at your desk with no work to do, buddy. Just be sure to set something in motion to get someone else who's job it is to fix these sort of problems on it.
Why should you trouble yourself if the company's assclown policies are preventing you from doing work?
Have you tried taking your gloves off?
You have to have someone else let you into secure areas? This strikes me as very risky indeed - for your career that is. Among other things, the point of such systems is to audit who enters the areas, and you are circumventing it.
Get them to fix the system so it lets you in - don't put yourself at risk by breaking the rules.
It appears the loops and whorls of my fingerprints are a little lower than average - so when I first tried to use a fingerprint reader I couldn't register with the system, nevermind authenticate with it later. Then, I finally loaded up an admin utility that showed the scanned image that the recognition engine was using - and I noticed the print didn't look complete.
Solution: I put almost half of the required fingertip over the top of the imaging sensor, so the stupid little device gets the part of my print it really wants.
Anyway, it might be worth a try to play around with finger positioning.
Easy - get yourself to some local med school and barter for a finger from some leftover dissection class (there's gotta be tons of extra fingers right?). Make sure it has a nice print. Anyway, retrain your work security system on the new finger, and pop that baby around your neck on a string. If the system has one of those annoying "it has to be warm" features just stick it in your mouth for a minute before use.
Surely this is your employer's problem, not yours, given that they're the ones who've implemented a faulty security system? As it's impeding your ability to do your job, it's costing them money and so is in their best interests to fix.
This isn't an instant solution but it will probably work in the near-term. Try sanding down the pads of your finger(s). The skin will grow back thicker, i.e. it will callous, and your prints will be more distinct. I play guitar and the pads of my left fingers are about 1/16" thick. Last time I was fingerprinted (for a concealed weapon permit, if you're curious) the cop who did it told me I had the best prints he had seen in a long time.
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
I've been doing biometrics related stuff for the last several years, and I can tell you that there are a *lot* of people who don't have easily-scannable fingerprints. Many people who do a lot of work with their hands basically keep their fingertips polished smooth. One colleague of mine has a grandmother who quilts a lot and the constant rubbing of fingertips against cloth erases her ridges. A national ID project in Nicaragua (IIRC) ran into lots of trouble because most of the women cook tortillas and frequently grab the hot tortillas with their fingers to flip and remove them, burning their fingerprints off in the process. People who do hard labor often have thick, cracking callouses which cause problems.
It also appears to be a bigger problem for women than for men, women seem to have naturally fainter ridges than men, and asians seem to have fainter ridges that other races. I've met lots of asian women who have basically no ridges at all.
Other people have a different problem. Most fingerprint recognition algorithms want to look at some nice whorl patterns, which is where the most identifiable splits and changes in the ridges are found, but this "central" portion is not very centered on some peoples' fingers. For some, it's closer to the fingertip or closer to the knuckle, and I even met one man who got the best readings by tilting his finger about 30 degrees to one side.
Finally lots of people have problems using fingerprint scanners because they don't know how to use them. "What's to know?" you might think. Actually, you do have to learn how to position your finger on the sensor, and how much pressure to apply. Bad positioning, or too much or too little force, will give you poor scans.
So, to find a solution (other than getting your employer to fix or get rid of the scanners), I suggest you firse see if you can figure out what the problem is. Some things to look at/try:
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Nothing to see here. Move along.