How to -- use another PC as proxy/tunnel?

[phiren]

This issue came up when I was traveling and at a hotel who had their internet run by Kim Jong Il apparently. They had *everything* blocked by default you could tell. Even ping packets were blocked.

I'm well above average when it comes to messing with computer type stuff.. right now I'm at work and VNC'd to my home computer via port 443. So i know how to set up port forwards, port listens, etc.

At the hotel, I was able to VNC into my home computer, download some software, and set it up as a proxy successfully for web browsing while at the hotel.

So the next logical step is.. well if I'm using my home computer as a proxy for web browsing, why can't I use as a 'full proxy', where port 5998 or whatever isn't blocked.

After hours of googling and messing around, couldn't figure it out. The articles I found were great, but weren't specific enough to what I was trying to do to help me apply bits and pieces into a working solution.

So here is what I got to work with:
#1) Home Computer, Windows XP, can listen over port 80, 443. 443 already used for VNC. So listening over port 80 is an option.
#2) Laptop, Windows 7 , behind firewall

So how can I set up my home computer (what application do i need to install), and then what do I need to do on my laptop to tell it to use my home computer for everything.

The google articles i've seen have a lot of good information... on linux/UNIX type systems... but i'm working with 2 windows systems.

As I said, I'm above average with computers, but new to proxies/tunnels/etc.. so please use simple words if possible :)

Thanks for the help in advance!

~Phiren

[mgellan]

You need to set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with your home setup so you can connect securely to your home network and route traffic through there - see http://openvpn.net/ as an example - you can run it as an appliance as a VM. Not sure if there's anything like it for XP.

OR, more simply, subscribe to a commercial VPN like BTGuard ($9.95/mo) that you connect to via VPN - their default port is 1025 and might be blocked but you can change it to 80/443 so it's not blocked. It has the added benefit of anonymizing your traffic even from home so no one can ID your home internet IP if you might be using BitTorrent or similar tool. Using a commercial service will probably be fastest since they're well connected to the Internet so you're not getting hit with your shitty hotel connection as well as your home connection.

EDIT: Windows 7 apparently allows incoming VPN connections but it probably won't route traffic through your home internet.

Regards,
Mg