Background fact: All modern NICs (Network Interface Controller) used on Ethernet interfaces have an EEPROM on them. This is what allows the NIC to be mass produced but still each one can have its own unique MAC address.There is left over space is all NIC EEPROMS that I have seen, and manufacturers have used that space to let the NIC owner control configuration options.
I haven't installed any Windows update since I bought an XP laptop with SP1 and Windows kept wanting to install an "important security update". After a month of using XP and a live Linux CD (Knoppix) with no significant problems, I finally accepted the "security update". Windows still worked as well as Windows can be expected to work, but my live Linux CD could no longer connect to the Internet! I eventually tracked the problem to the EEPROM on my notebook's NIC being changed to an unusable startup configuration. Windows knew to not use the configuration in EEPROM and just configured the NIC itself, Linux didn't know that the EEPROM had been screwed with and kept trying to use the configuration stored in EEPROM. I did fin cumbersome manual ways to work past it eventually, but it is an experience that I don't want to have again.
Being that the only people who have ever done harm like this to my computer is the Microsoft corporation, I no longer accept security updates from the only company that I need the protection from.
8 Catfish = 1 Octo-puss