I dont know what version of Visual Studio you're using or what you've done wrong but the free version (With a FREE account) is capable of changing the settings. It simply has less features than the paid versions.
And you don't need to update Visual Studio as a whole before uninstalling, however you do need internet and you need to update the installer, which honestly does suck but it could be much worse.
I had the suite thing since when I used it ages ago I needed some advanced stuff. However, I no longer use that MS account anymore so didn't renew the license and I was annoyed by how easy it was to accidentally click on the stupid "open in Visual Studio" context menu entry, so I open it and try to change settings, I had to use an account with a valid license to even do that!
hahahaha I'm half way through a bag off my Volcano and my tolerance is way down because I haven't been smoking much lately, so I was a little slow to catch that that was what your angle was