SSH socks port forwarding and YOU.

There are times that you'll want to create an on-the-fly socks proxy server for various reasons.  A common one, is because you're behind a restrictive firewall, and want to get outside.  If your restrictive firewall allows you to ssh out, you can get around these restrictions easily.

If you are on a UNIX box, you can start an ssh session like this:

$ ssh -D localhost:9876 username@shell.example.com

Where "shell.example.com is a host outside of your firewall.

If you're on a windows host, using putty, set up your session like normal, then browse to SSH--> tunnels.  Then set the "dynamic" option like in this example then click "add":

Now, to use this SOCKS proxy, configure your client software to use localhost, port 9876 as a socks 4 or 5 proxy.

This works great for viewing websites while at work, if your web usage is restricted or monitored, for instance...