Description of problem:
Network status applet only displays lo interface, and displays the message:

Please contact your system administrator to resolve the following problem:
SIOCGIFFLAGS error: No such device

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
2.12.2-2.fc10.x86_64

How reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Add gnome-netstatus-applet to panel
2. Click icon
3.
  
Actual results:
Above message is displayed

Expected results:
Connection properties should be displayed

Additional info:
Manually adding the interface eth0 into the name field resolves the problem, but the entry is transient and does not survive logout/reboot. Known issue in several other distros, marked as resolved in some.