There seem to be an awful lot of people out there trying to steal our computer secrets. Bit of a mystery really, since the most valuable thing most of us store on hard disk is the password to our sadly depleted Hello Kitty piggy bank. But still, security is security and it’s good practice to try and keep things safe from prying eyes.

One way to do that is to invest in some additional safeguards over and above the basic logon passwords, and this USB Fingerprint Reader definitely offers a nice cheap security add-on for any Windows based computer. The device lets you lock computer access with your fingerprint, and also gives screensaver protection as well as file and folder encryption to protect from nosey parkers. Just plug it into your USB port, fire up the software and register your choice of finger. Job done. Priced at a very enticing $12.89/£8.25.