Pip Install - error message when installing packages Python 2.7 Anaconda / Windows 10

Question

until recently, I had no problems installing packages using

pip install package_name 

through command prompt. However, recently, I started receiving the following error message for 99% of packages I attempt to install (note: if the package is already installed, i do get "requirement already satisfied error").

          Retrying (Retry(total=0, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) 
    after connection broken by 'ProxyError('Cannot connect to proxy.', 
        NewConnectionError('<pip._vendor.requests.packages.urllib3.connection.VerifiedHTTPSConnection 
object at 0x00000000041D2A90>: Failed to establish a new connection:
 [Errno 10061]  No connection could be made because the target machine 
actively refused it',))': /simple/pattern/

Any idea on whats going on here, and how I can go about fixing it?

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Mystery Solved - this was a proxy setting within windows. Answer, provides by The_Vatts in this thread is as follows:

Go to control panel -> Internet options -> Connections ->LAN Settings ->Unmark 'use proxy server' options.

Judging by the other thread, this may not be exactly what some people are looking for, but this accomplished what i needed.