Feature name
Smoother browser → desktop app Windows Hello process
Feature function
- What will this feature do differently?
When having to do a login with the browser extension, the Windows BW app needs to also be running. It then requires a confirmation that the secret code words match with a mouse click (or keyboard press), followed by a thumbprint, and finally, a manual click on the desktop app to minimize it again so that it’s not covering whatever else on screen you were previously working on.
What would be NICE is:
- Since it’s on the same computer every time, having to manually confirm the keywords match each and every time (how does this actually make it more secure, when it’s popping up on the same computer? Anyone in front of the computer, even a bad actor will still see the same keywords match) seems like more of an annoyance/nuisance than a true security feature. Maybe at least a “remember this device for 30 days?” option, or something?
This way, at least, the very next step would simply be to use your fingerprint, (skipping the keyword confirmation dialog every single time) which is secure enough. I mean … it’s a fingerprint. 
- The other thing is that the BW desktop app needs to (evidently) popup full size each time you need to use your fingerprint (it cant stay minimized to the tray and just show the Hello dialog?), which doesn’t auto-minimize again once you’ve used your finger print. This means you have to manually click the close button on it each time you need to login to the browser extension. An annoyance.
I usually have 2 monitors running, with open apps on each. To simply login to the browser extension I have to:
- Click the BW extension button on (my main monitor)
- Click login on the extension
- Make sure the BW app IS running and popped up full size from being hidden in the tray (on my second monitor)
- Make sure the BW app is on top (instead of hidden behind another window)
- Make sure the keywords match between the extension and the browser (looking between the 2 monitors, as the BW app pops up on my second monitor)
- Click or keypress the confirmation dialog regarding the keywords (on my 2nd monitor)
- Move my hand over to the fingerprint device
- Move my hand back onto the mouse and move the mouse cursor to the second monitor’s little x button and click it to hide it from covering the stuff I was using on my 2nd monitor.
That’s a lot of steps to do to login, when one of the base concepts of using a fingerprint to login is to make logging in easier.
In theory:
- you see a login screen
- you press your fingerprint
you’re in
If the BW desktop app would at least auto-minimize again after it brought itself up to full size after confirming with the fingerprint, it would smooth out that second half of the process.
- What benefits will this feature bring?
- Removing (or storing and only re-confirming periodically) the keywords …
- Auto-hiding the desktop app after fingerprint confirmation …
Would make using the Hello feature much smoother and bring it more in line with the basic concept of using Bio to verify; more secure and less intrusive.
Please don’t take any of this as complaining. I sincerely appreciate all the great work BW’s devs do and have done. I am simply providing user feedback. 