Intro
Okay. So, let’s say, just as an example, that you want to watch full episodes of your favourite TV show on Hulu, but you’re not from America. Well, Hulu will check the location of your IP address, find out you’re not in America, and then kindly inform you to go away. The same can be said for BBC iPlayer in the UK, and many other websites around the World.
However, let’s pretend you have a box in one of those countries with shell access! “I know! I can set up a PHP proxy and visit the website through that!” I hear you say.
Well…no, you can’t. First of all, PHP proxies suck, and it won’t work anyway. What you can do is configure your browser to route your traffic through your box via PuTTY, so all of your requests are coming from the IP of your box, and if it’s located in the same country, the website will allow it.
Software
No extra software will be installed on your server.
You will need the following software on your machine (you can download the portable executabl files so you don’t need to install it)
Configuring PuTTY
After downloading the software, you will need to configure it, so open up PuTTY and enter your server IP address in. On the left, double click SSH and then click on Tunnels
On the right, it should give you some different options, so where it says Source port enter 8345 and where it says Destination, choose Dynamic
Click add, and under Forwarded ports, it should say D8345
Click on Session on the left, then click on Default Settings and then Save
This will save your session so it’s easier next time. Anyway, you have it set up correctly now, so just hit Open and log in
Configuring Firefox
This can most likely be configured in other browsers, but this tutorial is for Firefox.
Open up Firefox, go to Tools, then Options, then Advanced, then Networks and Settings
Click Manual proxy coniguration then next to SOCKS Host enter 127.0.0.1 and next to Port enter 8345
Click OK as many times as you need to, and that’s it! You need to stay logged in to PuTTY while you’re browsing for it to work.