diff --git includes/common.inc includes/common.inc
index b340f02..4c3b6c4 100644
--- includes/common.inc
+++ includes/common.inc
@@ -781,7 +781,18 @@ function drupal_http_request($url, array $options = array()) {
     $result->code = -1002;
     return $result;
   }
-
+  
+  $proxy_server = variable_get('proxy_server', '');
+  if ((strlen($proxy_server) > 0) && (FALSE == _matches_proxy_exceptions($uri['host']))) {
+    $use_proxy = TRUE;
+    $proxy_port = variable_get('proxy_port', 8080);
+    $proxy_username = variable_get('proxy_username', '');
+    $proxy_password = variable_get('proxy_password', '');
+  }
+  else {
+    $use_proxy = FALSE;
+  }
+  
   timer_start(__FUNCTION__);
 
   // Merge the default options.
@@ -798,7 +809,12 @@ function drupal_http_request($url, array $options = array()) {
     case 'feed':
       $port = isset($uri['port']) ? $uri['port'] : 80;
       $host = $uri['host'] . ($port != 80 ? ':' . $port : '');
-      $fp = @fsockopen($uri['host'], $port, $errno, $errstr, $options['timeout']);
+      if ($use_proxy) {
+        $fp = @fsockopen($proxy_server, $proxy_port, $errno, $errstr, $options['timeout']);
+      }
+      else {
+        $fp = @fsockopen($uri['host'], $port, $errno, $errstr, $options['timeout']);
+      }
       break;
     case 'https':
       // Note: Only works when PHP is compiled with OpenSSL support.
@@ -829,9 +845,14 @@ function drupal_http_request($url, array $options = array()) {
   }
 
   // Construct the path to act on.
-  $path = isset($uri['path']) ? $uri['path'] : '/';
-  if (isset($uri['query'])) {
-    $path .= '?' . $uri['query'];
+  if ($use_proxy) {
+    $path = $url;
+  }
+  else {
+    $path = isset($uri['path']) ? $uri['path'] : '/';
+    if (isset($uri['query'])) {
+      $path .= '?' . $uri['query'];
+    }
   }
 
   // Merge the default headers.
@@ -857,6 +878,11 @@ function drupal_http_request($url, array $options = array()) {
   if (isset($uri['user'])) {
     $options['headers']['Authorization'] = 'Basic ' . base64_encode($uri['user'] . (!empty($uri['pass']) ? ":" . $uri['pass'] : ''));
   }
+  
+  // If proxy authorisation is required the set the header.
+  if ($use_proxy && !empty($proxy_username)) {
+    $options['headers']['Proxy-Authorization'] = 'Basic ' . base64_encode($proxy_username . (!empty($proxy_password) ? ":" . $proxy_password : ''));
+  }
 
   // If the database prefix is being used by SimpleTest to run the tests in a copied
   // database then set the user-agent header to the database prefix so that any
@@ -992,6 +1018,33 @@ function drupal_http_request($url, array $options = array()) {
 
   return $result;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Checks host against proxy exceptions
+ *
+ * @param $host
+ *   A string containing the host part of the requested URI.
+ * @return
+ *   - TRUE if one of the proxy exceptions equals or is part of $host.
+ *   - FALSE if none of the proxy exceptions equals or is part of $host.
+ */
+function _matches_proxy_exceptions($host) {
+  $rv = FALSE;
+                                                                                                    
+  $proxy_exceptions = variable_get('proxy_exceptions', '');
+  if (FALSE == empty($proxy_exceptions)) {
+    $patterns = explode(",", $proxy_exceptions);
+    foreach ($patterns as $pattern) {
+      $pattern = trim($pattern, " ");
+
+      if (strstr($host, $pattern)) {
+        $rv = TRUE;
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return $rv;
+}
 /**
  * @} End of "HTTP handling".
  */
@@ -5139,9 +5192,6 @@ function drupal_render_cache_by_query($query, $function, $expire = CACHE_TEMPORA
 }
 
 /**
-
-
-/**
  * Helper function for building cache ids.
  *
  * @param $granularity
diff --git sites/default/default.settings.php sites/default/default.settings.php
index 2cee981..6c00208 100644
--- sites/default/default.settings.php
+++ sites/default/default.settings.php
@@ -407,3 +407,16 @@ ini_set('session.cookie_lifetime', 2000000);
  * Remove the leading hash signs to disable.
  */
 # $conf['allow_authorize_operations'] = FALSE;
+
+/**
+ * External Access proxy settings:
+ *
+ * If your drupal site requires that external internet access goes through a 
+ * web proxy then you can enter the necessary settings here. Currently only
+ * BASIC authentication is supported if using the username and password fields.
+ */
+# $conf['proxy_server'] = "proxy.example.com";
+# $conf['proxy_port'] = 8080;
+# $conf['proxy_username'] = "";
+# $conf['proxy_password'] = "";
+# $conf['proxy_exceptions'] = "127.0.0.1,localhost";