I love SSH I’m not sure if there is a better tool out there. It can be used so many ways. I have often been at client locations and been unable to access servers or sites I need to support or do work on. Corporations often block sites that I support and need access to so use my home SSH server to be a proxy to connect. I use this same technique when I am in a coffee shop or unsecured wireless and want to browse securely. To use SSH as a proxy you just need to turn on Tunnels.
You can do this through the command line
$ssh -D 1234 [email protected]
or through PUTTY
In putty you just need to open up the tunnels area under ssh and add the PORT you want to use (example: 1234) and then select the Dynamic Destination (AKA the internet)
To use the tunnel (SOCKS) you just need to change your internet connection settings in your browser. Firefox: Tools | Options | Advanced | Network | connection Settings.
This is a great way to keep your browsing secure.
For my online security I prefer to use VPN service instead of unreliable proxy.Because a proxy may not be easy to set up and run as a service such as Hotspot Shield Free VPN.
check it out here: http://www.hotspotshield.com