wow... 10/10 post, this is what the internet is for!!
for others, i have not done anything to produce this stellar advice, but i have a microscopic bit of clairty to add, and am going to rewrite the above to make it beyond simple because i know many phone users aren't techy, and i hope those users find this thread because AT&T are a bunch of evil bastards, we should never be at this point, they suck, we dont...
to verify as well, this works on a rock stock Inspire running 2.2.1, and running this recipe only reset my wallpaper, i dont see that i lost a thing... icons, apps, messages, email, all still there, except now i have the illusive unknown applications check off
- from home screen
- tap menu
- tap settings
- tap applications (scroll down a little)
- (note your unknown services check is missing)
- tap manage applications
- tap the tab that says all (for all applications)
- scroll down to "customization settings provider", tap once
- tap clear data, say ok to popup
- press back once (back to all applications list)
- scroll way down to "settings", tap once
- tap clear data, say ok to popup
- go fix wallpaper if req'd
you're done.. hit the back button or return to the applications settings and viola your check box for unknown services are now there
big thanks to brianb76 for this, i was half postal ready to root my phone and cuss out some poor ATT slave