How can I get the current Windows' browser proxy setting, as well as set them to a value?
I know I can do this by looking in the registry at Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyServer, but I'm looking, if it is possible, to do this without messing directly with the registry.
urllib module automatically retrieves settings from registry when no proxies are specified as a parameter or in the environment variables

In a Windows environment, if no proxy
  environment variables are set, proxy
  settings are obtained from the
  registry’s Internet Settings section.

See the documentation of urllib module referenced in the earlier post.
To set the proxy I assume you'll need to use the pywin32 module and modify the registry directly.
How to set proxy in Windows with Python?