diff -upr ../trunk/src/Backends/Banshee.Gnome/Banshee.GnomeBackend/GConfProxy.cs ./src/Backends/Banshee.Gnome/Banshee.GnomeBackend/GConfProxy.cs
--- ../trunk/src/Backends/Banshee.Gnome/Banshee.GnomeBackend/GConfProxy.cs	2011-10-18 14:18:03.000000000 +0200
+++ ./src/Backends/Banshee.Gnome/Banshee.GnomeBackend/GConfProxy.cs	2011-10-18 14:24:11.000000000 +0200
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ namespace Banshee.GnomeBackend
         private const string PROXY_MODE = "mode";
         private const string PROXY_AUTO_URL = "autoconfig_url";
         private const string HTTP_PROXY = "/system/http_proxy";
-        private const string PROXY_USE_PROXY = "use_http_proxy";
         private const string PROXY_USE_AUTH = "use_authentication";
         private const string PROXY_HOST = "host";
         private const string PROXY_PORT = "port";
@@ -113,13 +112,13 @@ namespace Banshee.GnomeBackend
         {
             var proxy_mode = Get<string> (PROXY, PROXY_MODE);
             var proxy_auto_url = Get<string> (PROXY, PROXY_AUTO_URL);
-            var use_proxy = Get<bool> (HTTP_PROXY, PROXY_USE_PROXY);
             var use_auth = Get<bool> (null, HTTP_PROXY);
             var proxy_host = Get<string> (HTTP_PROXY, PROXY_HOST);
             var proxy_port = Get<int> (HTTP_PROXY, PROXY_PORT);
             var proxy_user = Get<string> (null, HTTP_PROXY);
             var proxy_password = Get<string> (null, HTTP_PROXY);
             var proxy_bypass_list = Get<string[]> (HTTP_PROXY, PROXY_BYPASS_LIST);
+	    var use_proxy = !String.IsNullOrEmpty (proxy_host);
 
             if (!use_proxy || proxy_mode == "none") {
                 Log.Debug ("Direct connection, no proxy in use");
