Sensible Vision’s FastAccess on Windows 7

Filed Under (Thoughts) by Karun on 01-07-2009

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Sensible Vision came out with this pretty amazing software called FastAccess that does a decent job at facial recognition. But using it on Windows 7 has given me a few issues so I thought I should just talk about it.

I’ve been using Windows 7 ever since the first beta was made public. I have been using Sensible Vision’s FastAccess on every build I’ve used so far. Currently, my laptop is on Windows 7 build 7137.

I have 3 major issues with FastAccess.

  1. On every boot, it refuses to log me in. But if I logout/lock workstation and return a few times, it starts recognizing me. It seems as though it is not able to store its data and every reboot needs it to be recalibrated (even though there are different texts for the first software boot as opposed to every other time it starts up, it just seems that way).
  2. This is not really a Windows 7 specific bug but why can’t Sensible Vision start its software after the camera boots up? Not doing so seems pointless to me.
  3. Fine, you can’t bring the camera drivers up the boot order. I think I’ll just type in my password if you don’t mind. But FastAccess does mind. It actually logs me out 5 seconds after I logged in. I find this extremely irritating.

I have tried googling up for Windows 7 support and there seems to be none. In fact, when searching for “Sensible Vision FastAccess Windows 7″ on Google the second result you see is of this blog :|

First, I’d like to hear feedback from any FastAccess users out there who are on Windows 7.
Second, I’d like Sensible Vision to let its users know about its Windows 7 plans and whether it is planning to use something like the Windows Biometric Foundation (WBF) (Assuming they are applicable).

Note: As far as I’ve read so far, WBF seems to be for Fingerprint sensors though I’m hoping they might provide support for other kinds of biometric data such as facial recognition. Still looking into things though.

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5 Responses to “Sensible Vision’s FastAccess on Windows 7”

  1. Darin on 9 Jul 2009 at 12:54 am #

    Thank you very much for your observations. As Win7 is a pre-release OS, it is not yet officially supported by either Dell or Sensible Vision.

    With the latest version of FastAccess and Win7 we have no known issues. However, we would like to help you with the problems that you’re seeing. Feel free to contact us at Win7beta@sensiblevision.com so we can provide you the necessary support. As a first step, please be sure that you’re running the most recent version of FastAccess – 2.3.78.

    In the meantime, you may refer to the new Win7 section on our website.
    http://www.sensiblevision.com/v/dell/win7.htm

    Thanks again.

    Darin
    Senior Account Manager, Sensible Vision

  2. Karun on 9 Jul 2009 at 8:37 am #

    Yeah, I know that most organizations don’t support pre release OS’ but I would expect to find some info on your Win7 plans which the page you linked to does give. I’ll make sure I’m on the latest version of FastAccess (which I do check regularly for) and test these things out again.

    Thanks for your time and reply. I will definitely let you guys know if in case I have any further issues with Windows 7.

  3. Wm Henning on 9 Nov 2009 at 8:53 pm #

    My Dell Studio One had FastAccess pre-installed on OS Vista. I never had a problem with the functioning of either. Dell sent me the “Windows 7 Upgrade” which I installed and now I cannot use my Dell Touch Cam along with FastAccess. In order to use video (Microsoft Messenger Live) which utilizes the Dell Cam I had to uninstall FastAccess. They will not both work on my computer together. FastAccess knocks out the DellCam program. I have spent more than three hours with on line remote connect support and it has not corrected this problem. At the current time I have un-installed and re-installed both programs at least 6 times each (as directed and or accomplished remotely)to no results. Do you have any suggestions about how to correct this problem.

  4. Karun on 10 Nov 2009 at 11:11 am #

    FastAccess is supposed to have a virtual driver installed which handles other applications requesting for the webcam while still allowing FastAccess to work.
    This can be seen in Device Manager under the cameras option where you will see 2 entries even though you have only one camera.

    Did you try running FastAccess update from the server because the latest version works perfectly for me. If it doesn’t for you, I suggest you do what I did.. Remove all FastAccess entries (I’m guess you’ve already done this) then make sure there are no lingering FastAccess files and then reboot. After your machine starts up again, install FastAccess again. I installed the Vista version from the FastAccess disc I had. Some people didn’t get this disc and if you’re one of them, call up Dell Support to request for your FastAccess disc and install it. Then reboot (I think the installer requests for it) followed up by an execution of FastAccess’ update program. This should bring your application up to speed. :)

    While your oh the phone with Dell Tech Support, ask them if you can get a separate disc for FastAccess’ Win7 version. If in case you can’t, get the WinVista if you don’t already have it :)

    Hope this helps :)

  5. Darin on 10 Nov 2009 at 8:09 pm #

    Thanks Karun, you are quite correct. FastAccess has a virtual camera – called “FACap” – that other video programs can use. Most programs are set to automatically select the “first available” camera, but if it does not for some reason then you may typically select the “FaCap” camera driver manually.

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