Undo changes of advanced privacy settings

Permanently deleted user

• 17 février 2021 00:13

Hello,

My demand is about the "Privacy Settings" of Avira Security (antivirus) for Windows.

I was usually using "recommended" privacy settings and everything was fine (personal computer, only my account, administrator rights).

Recently, I just wanted to give a try to "advanced" privacy settings; which aim to block more or less anything on the PC at the "organisation/administrator" level.

These settings were a bit too much for me and I set it back to "recommended".

But PROBLEM : it didn't come back.

Microphone is locked; camera is locked, localization is locked, even some Excel formula are locked (with the following error message "Your organization's administrator turned off the service required for this feature").

I tried many solutions to undo these changes (tried to reinstall windows (keeping file and data), restored group policies, even performed some changes to register.
Nothing worked..

I am kinda desperate. Please, is there any workaround I could use to restore my PC to a usable state ?

Please help.

Best regards,
Colyne.

PS : Please note that; when in Avira, I am trying to apply "recommended" settings , it first displays that settings have been applied as expected, and 1 second later, it displays that my privacy settings have been changed and should be "re-applied" (I can not understand what happens, it feels just like something immediately rejects the change to "recommend settings"

Oui 0 Non

• 

  pascha45

  • 17 février 2021 10:42

  Hello Colyne,

  Please describe which Avira version you have installed (Free or Pro) and your exact procedure so far.

  Have you already tried uninstalling and reinstalling?
  https://support.avira.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003162153-Uninstallation-of-Avira-for-Windows 
  or the manual reinstallation with previous clean-up:
  https://support.avira.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002858514-How-do-I-perform-a-manual-reinstallation-of-my-Avira-product- 

  
  Premium customers with a valid license can contact the support team directly:

  • https://my.avira.com/en/dashboard/support/tabs/support 
  • 0r
  • https://support.avira.com/hc/en-us   scroll down ⇒ Contact Avira

   

  Further checks can be initiated by the support team, which we do not have access to here and which can be processed in a DSGVO-compliant manner via email.
  The community is a publicly accessible forum, personal data may not be processed here in accordance with the Data Protection Regulation DSGVO. Thank you for your understanding.

  Kind regards

  Oui 0 Non
• 

  Permanently deleted user

  • 17 février 2021 13:29

  Hello Pascha45,

  Thank you  so much for taking the time to answer me.

  I am using the free security for Windows version (last version currently available).

  I did try to uninstall and reinstall Avira (using windows control panel -> Uninstall), several times. First time was when I saw that everything (camera, mic; etc) was locked on my PC.

  I just tried the reinstallation with previous registry clean-up (thanks for tell me).

  I did reboot whenever it was required. 

  
  Unfortunately, the issue is still there.
  Ever since I selected the advanced privacy settings, I could not revert the changes, no matter "how hard" I try.
  
  I was actually thinking to purchase a premium suite, but with the recent events and difficulties encountered on the free version, I am really holding back on that tought - what if premium products are broken as well.

  I'd rather try to fix this "mess" first if possible, then I will see.
  And I hope you understand that I am not goint to purchase a premium suite, just to have the opportunity / possibility something that Avira obviously broke. It would be completely unethical and not recommendable for a company such as Avira. Impairing some users computers and requires them to pay to fix it :  this is not an acceptable approach, and probably not very legal. 
  
  I do not think access to personnal data/computer is required to fix this issue.
  Having in the faq or here the full list of modifications/registry key changes performed by Avira when Advanced Privacy Settings are applied would help me to find if these keys still exist , and I could try to delete them manually, as example.

  Thank you again for your time

  Oui 0 Non
• 

  Lukas Huptas

  • 17 février 2021 13:59

  Hello,

  If the password has been reset via PrivacyPal, these instructions may be helpful:

  Reset your Windows 10 local account password (microsoft.com)

  If the name of the account/user is no longer known, please use Avira Rescue System and follow these steps:

  The use of Avira Rescue System – Official Avira Support | Knowledgebase & Customer Support | Avira

  • Open the "File Manager
  • Select "Other location
  • Select the drive (e.g. /dev/sda1)
  • Open the directory "Users
  • Here you will find all users incl. the user name

  With the now existing data, you can log in to your Windows installation again.

  Lukas Huptas

  Avira Community Manager

  Oui 0 Non
• 

  Permanently deleted user

  • 17 février 2021 15:03

  Hello Lukas,

  Thank you for this message.
  
  I am currently running my windows 10 edition with my personnal account (which is the only account on this PC, and it has therefore the "administrator" status).
  
  I do not think my password was reset by Privacy Pal. 
  
  Anyway, I tried to changed my administrator account password. Reboot.  Log in to my windows session as administrator with the new password.
  Then I tried to use mic or camera : still nope; still the message "some settings are hidden or managed by your organisation"
  
  Tried to set "recommended privacy settings" , still same issue, as soon as I apply the changes, Avira first display that : changes have been applied and everthing is ok , and few seconds after that ; it automatically display that "settings have been changed and should be reapplied". 
  
  During my researches to solve the problem; I am pretty sure I saw other people with the same issues across the forums, but no one was provided by a viable solution.

  Is there any way to reserve this lock on windows system ? 
  (which seems to be a "deep" lock, as Avira itself cannot reverse it, group policies restoration did not solve it, windows reinstallation (keeping file and app) did not solve it, some registry cleaning did not solve it, etc etc)
  
  Best regards

  Oui 0 Non
• 

  Lukas Huptas

  • 18 février 2021 10:18

  Thank you for getting back to us.

  Well, this behavior seems very suspect and we are in need to clear up the current status. So could you be so kind and provide us some screenshots of your current Privacy Pal settings?

  Thank you in advance.

  Best,

  Lukas Huptas

  Avira Community Manager

  Oui 0 Non

Vous devez vous connecter pour laisser un commentaire.