Accessable ID number on P3 chips?

[PropNut]

I just replaced my P2 300a with a new P3 since its been awhile and I havent been keeping up on things I seem to remember when the P3 came out that it had some sort of ID number imbeded in it that could be Identified by a 3rd party.. I also seem to remember that Intel had a patch or something to disable this.. am I dreaming this or whats the scoop on this ID number thing?
Thanks

 

[AndyHui]

The unique ID on each Pentium III chip is generally disabled by default in the BIOS. THe whole issue was pretty much a storm in a tea cup anyway.

No one uses the ID, and no one bothers tracing it either.

The ID number is not present on the Pentium 4.

 

[coolVariable]

And if you can't disable it in BIOS?

BTW: Is this ID number in Mobile P3s too?

 

[AndyHui]

This ID is present on mobile processors.

Just about all BIOSes have the option to disable the ID number, and just about all BIOSes have the number disabled by default.

You should not worry....it is no different to the unique address assigned to NICs, and you can't turn those off either.

 

[Slacker]

A note for those who bought the Gateway 6400, there is no setting in its bios to disable the I.D. number, and it is enabled by default, you will need to download intels utility to disable it if you feel the need.