Need help with free proxy

I tried using a free proxy and it worked great. Problem is, when I take out the proxy from Firefox and IE, I cannot access the internet anymore.

When I put the proxy back on, it works just fine.

Tried a few things including restarting...an ipconfig /flushdns but nothing has worked.

Any suggestions?

 

Can you access internet with your email program ?

 

I fired up Thunderbird, and it downloaded my gmail. So, apparently, yes.

I'm thinking maybe a windows firewall issue!?

 

Some other Internet programs will not run anymore....