So what can you do for around £70 to give you that Dr Evil feeling, well Microsoft have produced a new desktop that combines its best technology in web surfing and PC control with a very 007 like fingerprint reader.

The Microsoft Fingerprint Keyboard is a bit of a mouthful but it does deserve a complicated name perhaps MFK would make a better codename for what is in effect a optical wireless keyboard and mouse with full multimedia control and then a fingerprint reader embedded within the left hand side of the keyboard to control access and eliminate the need for passwords.

We'll deal with the nuts and bolts keyboard and mouse features in a minute but first lets concentrate on why this device is ideal for super villains and avid web surfers alike. What do the two groups have in common? passwords lots and lots of passwords, it is a little known fact that your average Super Villain has to remember some 20 passwords to control a plot to take over the world and the average web surfer in the UK has over 20 sites that they have a username and password for.

Of course the average Super Villain has an excellent memory thanks to their purchase of the mega memory product from the now defunct Shop America channel on Sky, for the rest of us well we tend to use the same password again and gain which obviously presents a risk.

So what if you had something unique that could store all your usernames and password combinations and yet only allow you access, that's just what Microsoft have done with the wireless fingerprint keyboard. The first step is to register a paw print with the application, once stored you can associate your user profile with it so that you can log on and off windows XP using your finger print. Then onto those pesky websites the first time you visit a site you are given the option of letting XP look after your username and login details simply type in some random password and then hit ok, the next time you visit the site simply present your finger to the reader and you details and entered to the browser.

We were sceptical about this but it works well and despite playing games with Sellotape and a child's detectives kit we were unable to fool the reader into letting us in without the correct finger being used. The software can store lots of prints allowing you to use it on a family PC, Microsoft are quick to point out that this should not be used to secure your bank details or other critical data, these should always use a password that includes numbers and special characters.

The desktop itself is a USB connected system with a wireless mouse, the keyboard has a good soft typing action quite unlike any keyboards from them previously and a wide range of extra feature keys for control of media player and quick start buttons for common applications like email and web browsers. There are also 5 favourites keys which can be assigned to any function, application or even a favourite website.

The Wireless mouse is of equal quality and has the new tilt wheel technology allowing both horizontal and vertical scrolling, the optical element allows for accurate pointing and is perfectly happy with fast moving PC games.

Priced at £64.99 the Microsoft Fingerprint Keyboard offers the control required by a super villain and at the same time makes web surfing so much less of a chore no matter how many sites you need to register and login with, so whether you're Dr Evil  or trying to research your doctorate this is a fine keyboard / mouse combo.

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