But, I am accessing all websites from my browser (IE 7) with the same proxy configured.

as I have the proxy configured, I'm not aware that the command line, or code would behave differently as compared to a browser, or is that the case?

Additonally, the thing is its NOT giving a forbidden or authentication codes, its giving only a timeout. And the default period is 180 seconds - and still it times out.

Authentication and forbidden errors seem to come up immediately.