Hi Peter,
   As was pointed out in a editorial in Infoworld a bit ago... Harddrive
have had serial numbers that could be read by software for quite some
time... I use SpinRite and have since around '91 or so to revive/restore
hard drives... and was always able to find out the hard drive's type,
manufacturor, serial number and all the vital stats about cylinders and
heads via SpinRite.... saved many a $300 40 megabyte drive from the garbage
pile... and the customer's were glad!

   As for the customer's fear?  It is the job of the computer professional
to allay the fears of the non-professionals...  don't even get me started
on the computer professionals who are predicting the rioting in the streets
and the spread of anarchy ....hehehe

Art "avoiding the P-III's cause they don't perform well! hehehe" Bahrs




Here is new Intel communist....

Yikes!  I just lost a 20 PC PIII deal when the serial number/chip ID crap
hit the fan.  How are people combating this?  Intel says the chips will be
shipped with it switched off, but customers fear that it can be switched
back on via the internet.

Is there software that somehow masks, confuses, hides the chip ID feature
if
it is switched back on?  Any way to permanently disable it?