This post contains a POC (Proof of concept) on how to detect if a user is using the same computer as they have previously used before. This can be useful if you want to register a user’s computer for a certain functionality that your website may have. It can also be used to only allow one computer to view private content of a site and has many other applications aside from being really cool!
The way the script works, it has functions to retrieve the following:
- Browser type
- Display width & height, color depth and available height
- The plugins that are installed on the browser
- The operating system the browser is running on
With these four pieces of information you have the option to MD5 hash them, which is what I recommend as it is shorter and easier to store in a database.
Please download the files from here. Two files are needed if you want to use the MD5 encryption.
<script src="/md5.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/detector.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
To get all of the above information about the browser in one neat string with separators, call this JavaScript function:
$fingerprint = pstfgrpnt();
To get the values MD5 hashed, simply pass true through as a parameter.
The index.html file on the download includes a simple example.
That is it! Enjoy!
Marvellous, thank you, just what I was looking for. Spooky timing. Works like a charm.
Can you please relink the script source? I’m getting a 404 error… This looks very promising for something I’m attempting. Thanks!
jesse,
I updated the link on the post.
Enjoy.
Hi,
I have seen a little error on the index.html file. To make components detection on IE, the script tag must be include befroe to close the tag.
Whatever, very usefull script, thanks.