The settings for showing clearances are stored in each design file, and are changed by View, Display, Settings & Highlights, using the boxes for 'Show Clearances'. So its hard to see how installing a patch could change the settings in your design files.
If you are getting problems with Forward Design Changes then I suggest you take patch 17.0.6 which should sort this out. As for the preferences switch, we are still mystified about how this could change.