How is non-HTTP traffic handled while running Firefox through an SSH tunnel?

"If you are connecting to the media through Firefox you should be safe. However, if you are using a separate application like a separate FTP client to connect to the FTP site you will need to configure that application to use the proxy as well. Pretty much it comes down to, each application has its own proxy settings and won't use the proxy unless you explicitly tell it to.

If you want most applications to use it, change the proxy options in your Internet Settings in the Control Panel in Windows. Most applications use those settings as their defaults.

Also, just as a precaution, if you are worried about traffic leaking out of the proxy, you should probably set up a firewall to block all outgoing traffic except for traffic bound for the proxy, that would be your safest bet."