Fingerprint Reader …. Neat but …..
My Toshiba Satellite U205 has a fingerprint reader. It’s kinda neat when it functions properly but can be a pain when it doesn’t recognize your fingerprint. I found out that it can be a REAL pain when the fingerprint reader malfunctions and you have some important files in “My Safe.” When you register your fingerprints, the software asks you to create a backup password in case of fingerprint reader malfunction, so the computer not recognizing your fingerprint is not a disaster. As long as you remember the backup password, there is a way out.

Reinstalling the software: Protector Suite QL
If the problem persists, you can remove and reinstall the fingerprint reading software, Protector Suite QL. The reinstallation of the software should not affect the files inside.

Crash and Safe Mode Operation
The real disaster occurred when my laptop crashed and could only be booted to a safe mode. I learned a hard way that the fingerprint reader didn’t work in a safe mode. Of course, I couldn’t find my backup password. I got locked out of My Safe. I have PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) installed on my laptop, so all my very important files were encrypted with PGP and NOT stored in “My Safe.” But I had a few personal files there. I wanted to retrieve them but couldn’t find a way to do so. If you search on the internet for “My Safe fingerprint problem,” you’ll see there are other people who lost the contents of My Safe.

As I restored the factory default setting on my laptop, I lost contents of My Safe. I didn’t lose any other personal data as I was able to move all my personal files, including pgp-encrypted files, to an external hard drive.

So, the moral of the story is “DO NOT USE MY SAFE.”

Don’t get me wrong. Other than the mishap I described here, I’m very happy with my Toshiba.