How to use smart card slot with Dell Latitude E6420?

Hi. Had the same question with my new Latitude 7480. Take any card you have that has a gold square 'chip' on the front and insert it face up in the slot; gold square end first. I did this with my Drivers Licence and my Qantas Club card. The task manager popped up saying "Setting up device - Device 'Smart Card' is undergoing additional setup' and after a while it completed. The card then appeared as a device under 'Devices and Printers' alongside icons of my keyboard, mouse, monitor etc. Basically it had no properties and Windows in of itself doesn't know what to do with the small amount of available information hidden on these devices. So... to answer your question and mine, the SC slot is used to read smart card information  typically where higher levels of security are needed for persons to use the PC. This article was good forum.notebookreview.com/.../   it also reads credit cards of course but I couldn't see any current applications for this. Anyway... now I know : )