Long-time user, here.  Just launched 0.8 for the first time.  I have the setting made to connect through proxy only (Tor).  The new client inherited that setting from previous installations.  I FORGOT to launch Tor, but the blockchain is downloading anyway.  

If I am not mistaken, this means it is connecting to the network, ignoring the proxy checked setting.

UPDATE:  It stopped syncing at 26 days left.  So maybe the bootstrapped portion of the block does not go through proxy?