Still nothing? I ran the unset command, but i am getting the exact same errors i posted above earlier?

I now get nothing from the echo $http_proxy command, it returns nothing.

sudo grep -R http_proxy /etc/*
Binary file /etc/alternatives/xulrunner-flashplugin matches
Binary file /etc/alternatives/www-browser matches
Binary file /etc/alternatives/mozilla-flashplugin matches
Binary file /etc/alternatives/firefox-flashplugin matches
Binary file /etc/alternatives/iceape-flashplugin matches
Binary file /etc/alternatives/midbrowser-flashplugin matches
Binary file /etc/alternatives/iceweasel-flashplugin matches
/etc/bash_completion: -o --output -p --print -P --pgp --proxy --http_proxy\
/etc/bash_completion: -B --bts -l --ldap --no-ldap --proxy= --http_proxy= \
grep: /etc/cfs/supervise: No such file or directory
/etc/default/anon-proxy:# remember to set $HTTP_PROXY and $http_proxy accordingly
/etc/environment:http_proxy=http://localhost:4001 # +ANON_MARK+
/etc/lftp.conf:## Environment variables ftp_proxy, http_proxy and no_proxy are used to
/etc/lftp.conf:# set http:proxy your_http_proxy[:port]
/etc/lftp.conf:# set hftp:proxy your_http_proxy[:port]
/etc/wgetrc:#http_proxy = http://proxy.yoyodyne.com:18023/

and the second command you gave me ran havoc with the terminal window?

try commenting out this line on /etc/enviroment

# +ANON_MARK+ Don't change this while anon-proxy manages this variable.
# +ANON_MARK+ To take back control of it run dpkg-reconfigure and tell
# +ANON_MARK+ debconf not to set this variable for you.
#HTTP_PROXY=http://localhost:4001 # +ANON_MARK+
#http_proxy=http://localhost:4001 # +ANON_MARK+

my /etc/environment now looks like this... Still no change :(

Aha, Solved it. I had a program "/usr/sbin/anon-proxy" which was appearing to interfere with synaptic, yet not affecting my browser? My IP remained the same?

I uninstalled it, rebooted and that was that :) :)

Thanks to everyone who tried to help, much appreciated ppl,

thanks

deft