I really don't know how I did it... as I am not a computer person, so I am thinking this is a miracle for us!

I reran both scans, Malware and Avast and they came up zero.
I rebooted again... and then got the Proxy Server error message.

So I went on our backup laptop, and looked up the exact wording of the error message..

There were many sites with suggestions. I had to go thru several to find the real fix.

1) first try, internet options at the top of the page of your brower,
For Mozilla it was Tools>options>advanced>network>settings
uncheck the proxy box. Well this was already blank for us.
so that didn't work

2) second try:
Control panel>internet options>connections>LAN settings.
all boxes should be unchecked and empty.... and there IT was
checked--the proxy permission box
The helper on the site said with certain types of infection the malware checks that box so you cannot get back on the net!

Boy they are malicious!

This all just happened in the past 24 hrs here. There must be a ton of new stuff for Xmas going around!

I hope this helps someone!