As I understand it, P11 makes an occasional 'call home', usually when it pops up message that updates are available: How else would it know ??

Which offers I hastily beat off with virtual '4x2'...

I've ample store points to upgrade to P_12 plus the 'goodies' thumb-drive but, so far, I've seen no compelling advantages. In fact, if P_12's material room will dump me straight into 'Cycles' snake-pit, d'uh, so not going there...

Well, not until I've perused, digested, grokked a platform-independent 'Cycles for Dummies' ...