Forticlient: Unabled to connect to the proxy server

[nmilot]

I'm hoping someone has seen this before.  When attempting to connect to VPN, users are all of a sudden getting an error stating: "Unabled to connect to the proxy server "x.x.x.x:80" please check the proxy settings of your Internet Explorer and try again."

Here's a little more info:

-we use SSL vpn via the forticlient (latest version)

-windows 7 laptops

-connect to a fortigate 1000C

-In the forticlient the "VPN before login" feature is enabled.

This x.x.x.x IP is definitely a proxy in our network that we are migrating away from.  It used to be used by internal users as well as by users on our old cisco platform once they were logged into VPN.  I can't figure out what is telling the forticlient software to use this proxy.  If a user logs into windows and then runs the forticlient they can connect to VPN without issues.   Checking IE settings on individual users shows no sign of a proxy.

Has anyone had any experience with this?  We think that something was pushed out via group policy, however our group policy guys haven't found anything.   There has to be a global setting somewhere on these PC's that are telling it to utilize the proxy at the windows logon.  I've scoured through the registry with no luck.

Thanks in advance.