Essentials error: Connection Refused on 127.0.0.1:8888

Overview:

If Fiddler has been used to proxy connections from Essentials or Essentials Manager and is no longer running, you will get an error when trying to launch sites:

Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. Unable to connect to the remote server No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 127.0.0.1:8888

This error may be suppressed if Essentials has cached the remote content of a site.

 

Solution:

The solution is to remove the elements that are directing Essentials to use Fiddler. These elements are found in the web.config files for Essentials and Essentials Manager.  A typical entry would look like:
 

<defaultProxy>
      <proxy proxyaddress="http://localhost:8888" bypassonlocal="false" />
</defaultProxy>

but there are variations on it.