Sometimes your proxy not turning off problem may be caused by certain services on your system.
To be more specific, WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service, or better yet, its absence, could be the one responsible for this issue.
Naturally, in order to fix it, you just have to start this service.
This is quite simple to do if you follow these steps:
- Press Win Key + R on your keyboard
- Type services.msc and press Enter or click OK
- Locate WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service
- Double-click it
- Click the Start button, then the Apply and OK ones
Check if the issue is still present after starting the service.
Obviously, if you notice that the service was already running when you arrived to it, this method doesn’t apply to you and you can skip it.
In some instances, you might be able to fix this problem simply by disabling your proxy settings in your browser.
This process is different for each browser, however it shouldn’t be too complicated, regardless of the browser you use.
What you need to do is access open the Settings page in your browser, locate the Proxy section and make sure everything is disabled.
Note that you may need to start your browser as an administrator in order to apply the changes.
After disabling all proxy settings from your browser, check if the problem still persists. If it does, try restarting your PC and check once more.
- Buy a premium VPN plan (we recommend PIA)
- Download the VPN to your PC
- Install and launch the VPN client
- Log into your account
- Connect to any server you prefer
- Enjoy secure, anonymous browsing
Many times proxy servers are the preferred choice instead of VPNs, because, let’s face it, proxy servers are usually free.
However, using a VPN could boost your connection in terms of privacy, security, and even speed if you’re lucky enough.
Private Internet Access, for instance, has an outstanding network of over 22,000 servers (and counting) that you can choose from.
More so, it won’t log any of your online activity details, so you can rest assured knowing that your privacy is in good hands.
PIA also offers SOCKS5 and Shadowsocks proxy support, so you can always use those in addition to standard VPN features.
On the downside, using a VPN won’t automatically disable your proxy, so you might want to try our suggestions above before installing a VPN.
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Conclusion
As it turns out, sometimes your PC may refuse to turn off the proxy server connection, and that can happen from a bunch of reasons.
However, we believe we managed to identify most (if not all) of them and offer effective methods to solve this issue, regardless of its cause.
If you did manage to disable proxy on your system, it would be a wise decision to invest in a trustworthy VPN service such as PIA.
It offers greater privacy and security features, minus all the hassle that a proxy server comes with.
This post was written by Vlad Constantinescu and was first posted to WindowsReport