If you are tired of having to type your PIN or password every time you unlock your PC, but would still like it to be secure, but also do not want to use biometrics (e.g. with a shared PC) then Yubico may have just the solution.

Yubico’s Yubikey 4 and Yubikey 4 Nano offer one button Windows Hello authentication, meaning you can log into your PC by only pressing a button on the key, and the Yubikey 4 Nano can remain resident in the USB port, making it even more convenient than a fingerprint reader, but still leaving your PC completely safe once its been removed. That would mean your PC is perfectly convenient when you are at home or at work, and perfectly safe when you leave with the hardware key. A full password is still required on first bootup, meaning even if your PC with Yubikey is stolen your PC will still be secure on reboot.

See a video demonstrating the device below.

The dongle supports Windows 10 Anniversary Update (specifically version 1607, build 14393.321 or later) and the software also supports other services, including Dropbox, GitHub, WordPress, Google accounts, and a range of password managers.

They Yubikey 4 is $40 and Yubikey 4 Nano (which can stay in port) about $50 and can be found on Amazon or Yubico’s webstore here.