Feeling insecure at the office? Are you wondering if someone is looking at your files when you are away from your desk?
Worry no more.
The Gatekeeper Halberd is a key fob that locks your computer when you walk away from your system. When you (and your Gatekeeper Halberd keyfob) comes close to your system again the keyfob connects to the USB BlueTooth to Unlock your system for you. This is perfect for office situations where you may have to step away from your desk for some reason for a moment. You don’t have to worry about security because as soon as the fob and you walk away from your computer the system locks up automatically. What’s cool is that you don’t have to waste time entering your password when you return. The Gatekeeper Halberd does all that automatically. And you are ready to go back to work…. with a feeling of security.
What you need is either a Windows computer with Win 7, 8, 8.1 & 10 or a MAC withOSX. You also need to download the software for whatever OS you happen to use.
While I DO like the convenience of having the computer immediately available to me as soon as I walk up to it…. in my case I normally use the Linux side of my multi-boot system and so far they do not support Linux. Yet. There is a claim that Linux support is coming eventually.
The Gatekeeper Halberd comes with a battery, a BlueTooth USB lock, a lanyard as an optional method of carrying the Keyfob.
After months of never looking at the Windows side of my laptop, I (ugh), turned it on. I had already downloaded the setup file from the website. So, I ran the exe file and it said:
I plugged in the USB Lock and clicked “Yes”. Now it just needed my password:
For those who wish EXTRA security, you can add a PIN number…… I personally don’t need this.
In the software “Dashboard”, this is where you can choose how the GateKeeper functions. Automatic Mode lets you use the most convenient method…. step away and your system LOCKS… step back in and your system UNLOCKS. Button Mode is a manual feature. Lock Sensitivity makes the locking/unlock feature work only when the fob is closer to the USB key.
You can contact the company directly from this tab in the Dashboard:
Help comes in a variety of ways from the manual to a Live Chat:
The About Tab:
I tried using the location, upping the sensitivity and even using the button the turn it on and off, but got no response….. maybe I need to reboot the Windows. I’ll try that next.
So the next day I once again (ugh!) booted into Windows and tried starting the GateKeeper app. It didn’t start so I let Windows “fix” it which basically meant uploading a slightly newer version – 2.16.3.
The first change (aside from actually starting up) is this:
I kept tweaking the sensitivity closer to “Near” so that my walking away with the KeyFob would lock the computer. Sure, it takes several seconds 10 to 20 sec I’m estimating – for the system to Lock, but it DOES lock.
Please note that the “Signal Strength” refers to the battery in the Key Fob. I screengrabbed this early on and I noticed that after playing around a bit with some of the settings that the app registered the battery as “high”.
It didn’t take too many tries to get this going. I also tried using the button to Lock the system manually. Yup, that works too. But since I was sitting right in front of my laptop it also immediately UNLocked. Well, the point is you can spend as much time as you wish to figure out exactly how best to Lock your system. And, frankly, it depends entirely on where this system is (what kind of office you work in, etc) and who else is using that system.
Now, you are also supposed to be able to use this with your mobile phone by using their app. There’s an app for an iPhone and an app for Android. However, I noticed that to use the app you must register an account.
What I would prefer is to have this available for my Linux system. I will communicate with this company and if they make that available you will see another article from me here, Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel.