Speedtouch Firmware Question

Greetings,

Recently I have been experimenting with the Knoppix dist of Linux, I boot it from a CD. I've read up about the Speedtouch drivers for Linux, however one thing I am concerned about is the modem firmware that needs to be loaded when Knoppix is running, I have a few quesions:

If I install the firmware required for Knoppix, will the modem still work when I return to Windows - is the firmware loaded into the modem on booting the computer?

I know little about both Linux and firmware but I don't want to 'overwrite' (if that is possible) the modem firmware so it won't work in Windows.

Thanks. :)