DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Why Does Skype Read the BIOS?

2 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/why-does-skype-read-the-bios.48910/

unni
unni Original post #1
Feb 8, 2007 at 8:36 PM
*www.wincert.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=880&Itemid=37
"Myria at pagetable.com, among others, noticed that Skype reads the machine's BIOS code on startup. This probably would've gone unnoticed if the operation didn't fail on 64-bit windows. From the post: 'It's dumping your system BIOS, which usually includes your motherboard's serial number, and pipes it to the Skype application.

I have no idea what they're using it for, or whether they send anything to their servers, but I bet whatever they're doing is no good given their track record... If they hadn't been ignorant of Win64's lack of NTVDM, nobody would've noticed this happening.'"
nishant_nms
Feb 9, 2007 at 7:37 AM
It's bad Skype should tell the truth