I know this topic is from february, but I STILL have the same problem as a-user!
Good news. After some more extensive testing - with countless reboots (the most annoying part of the testing marathon) I found the culprit within avast (free) that's responsible for the conflict - well at least as far I as a normal user can get to the bottom of it.
And as so often with computer problems there was some chance involved and also I was on the right track a few days before but then it didn't work somehow.
Today, I tried many things before I finally got to the finish line.
First of all I re-enabled Fritz!DSL Protect and rebooted.
Then I went to avast (free) to see if I could somehow get it to connect by uninstalling, disabling some module or changing some setting.
Bear in mind that this problem only affects the auto-update of vps and engine, not manual updating by clicking on the "update" button beside the respective section. So there isn't anything wrong with the internet connection or it's accessibility for any program.
I disabled behavior shield. - No change
I rebooted. - No change
So I took some more drastic measures. I uninstalled behavior shield. And as I didn't want to reboot too often I also uninstalled wi-fi inspector and game mode, just to be sure, because I could really do without them if necessary. I rebooted. - No change.
So I additionally disabled valuation/assessment service (not sure which is the term in the english version), CyberCapture and "checking for PUP". - No change.
I rebooted. - No change.
And lastly I disabled self-protection and hardware-assisted virtualisation. No change.
I rebooted. Bingo. I got the ad bar and was "connected".
So I re-enabled everything except for self-protection and re-installed all previously uninstalled modules rebooted and avast could connect.
So, culprit found: avast (free) self-protection.
But as the avast GUI and also the icon were now warning about an important part of avast not being enabled I wasn't content yet. So I re-enabled self-protection. And after several minutes avast still was connected.
So, at this point my workaround solution was to disable self-protection before reboot and re-enabling it afterwards.
But just by chance I did one more reboot after which I didn't login right away but went to do something else. And so I logged into windows maybe 5-10 minutes later. And this time - for the first time - Fritz!DSL Protect asked me if I wanted to let avlauch.exe access avastui.exe. Of course I allowed it permanently. I'm not sure if that was really one important step. But it might, so I mention it.
That's when I got excited, because I thought that now I might be able to leave self-protection on all the time. So I rebooted to test my hypothesis.
Unfortunately, after reboot avast was disconnected again. So, out of pure desparation I just disabled self-protection in the hope that it also might work without reboot.
And it does! After a little while I was connected, got the add banner and online context help. And it stayed that way after re-enabling.
So, for me I just have to disable and re-enable (after the connection is shown as established or the ad banner is displayed) self-protection after windows login. And as the GUI home screen doesn't say anything about an necessary reboot I think, that disabling and re-enabling self-protection doesn't need a reboot and therefore works for this bug.
And yes, it not only claims to be connected now but also updated the date and time when it last updated using stream updates. So it's the real deal, really connected!
I had disabled self-protection a few days before but maybe I didn't wait long enough to take effect - or the entry for avlauncher.exe in Fritz!DSL Protect is in fact necessary.
The only downside it, that because of uninstalling and re-installing game mode the additional settings entry that came with one of the vps updates, "do not auto-add any applications", is gone and hasn't been re-installed.
And also the online context help now is in english not the localized language - but I'm not 100% if it was in localized language before either, I just think it was.
But for now I'm happy. Not just because it works now but also that I finally found the culprit - and it sits as suspected within avast (free).
I did everything the same as a-user mentioned above and I got the same results. I don't see solution in that, because
EVERY time when I turn on or reboot my laptop I have to turn off selfprotection and
as soon as i do that, it say it's loged-in, I can see online context help and automatic update connection is established after a few minutes and than i have to turn it back on, because it notifies me I'm not fully protected.
It is very FRUSTRATING! Every time!?
I thought by now it's gonna be fixed through some updates or newer version, but NO!!!
My question is: Does anyone have found permanent solution how to fix this without disabling and reenabling self protection after every reboot?!