Is there any way to set up a proxy so that all of my internet traffic is tunneled through it?  

I have an Ubuntu box at home running OpenSSH.  I use PuTTY on my Windows laptop to connect to it.  

I can then configure Firefox and other programs to use the SOCKS proxy to route traffic through the tunnel.

Is there a way to configure my computer so that all traffic automatically uses the proxy without setting up each individual program?

Do I need a VPN?

Thanks,

LDL

a vpn is going to be the easiest way to get what you want.

Is it possible to route a VPN over port 80?  I'm behind a restrictive firewall at times.

Correct me if I am wrong, but can't you just configure your default gateway to the IP of your proxy to force all outbound traffic to go through your proxy?