I'm running the proxy server on a server of mine, and have set firefox to use it. So the router I'm on is going to still show the address' of the sites i visit?
Just watch out which firefox extensions you install. Their are a few that can reval your info behind a proxy server (zip code) as an *example*.
So the router I'm on is going to still show the address' of the sites i visit?
By default usually NO. Im sure their are options in the routers GUI to allow to track sites of visitors if not, their is 3rd party software out their that can do this. Really depends on the manufacture of of the router.
I prefer to run my own setup rather than something like TOR and using their servers.
Thats kool and I can understand why.
What other options are available to me? Tunneling everything through SSH?
I want to keep the sites i visit hidden from router, and prevent packet sniffing
Just a little FYI, Tor uses SSL to encrypt all data, and doesn't even leak DNS requests, unlike some proxy servers.
As long as it's configured properly and using an appropriate proxy (such as Privoxy, which comes in the bundle).
TOR cannot offer 100% total anonmity so If the connection to the website is not secure (e.g https) then the last gateway will be able to see (and potentially sniff) all traffic.
Thus, it is vitally important when using TOR to check the server certificates and only use encrypted protocols (pop3-ssl, https) if you are logging in.
However, it is true that communication between nodes is encrypted so an intermediate node cannot intercept it.