Sandboxie

[shankle]

If I am posting to much on this forum Moderator please tell me.

On the Wilders web site I ran into a forum there that praises "SandBoxie".
Their claim, as far as I understand it, is that the program doesn't write to the
hard drive but works in a so called sand box thereby protecting from the bad
guys altering the hard drive. Seems like duplication of a GOOD virus checker.
I fail to see the value of this program OR I don't know enough about it
to make an intelligent decision.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
JPS

[hutch--]

Jack,

If you want a cheap easy and reliable sandbox, download the VM software from Microsoft, install whatever version of Windows you like on it and run risky things in it. Even if you pick up a virus or trojan, you can just shut it down, and copy a new version onto the VM image and its beaten.

[shankle]

Thanks Hutch for replying.
The "sandboxie" I was referring to can be found at
    xxx.sandboxie.com
    xxx for www
It is a free program but for a contribution will add a few
more goodies.

I read threw the helps files on it and am more confused now than
before. It seems like more of a hassle than its worth. I would think
the Esets Smart Security would protect me for most things. It has
been reliable so far.

[Mark Jones]

I've checked out this "Sandboxie" and think it's pretty cool. What it does, is simply intercept any sandboxed-application's writes to the hard disk. So, say you want to check out some unknown executable you found here in a ZIP file -- simply right-click the executable file and choose "Run Sandboxed." Even if the file is some terrible virus which tries to erase your partition table, Sandboxie will prevent it from doing so. Once you have checked out the program and like it (and trust it), you may run it outside the sandbox -- that is, normally.

All in all, a very userful tool for the tiny download and free pricetag. :U

[shankle]

Thank you Mark Jones.
So if I understand correctly it doesn't interfere with a good program that you
want to run unsandboxed. It only runs when you right click and click on run sandboxie.
Seems like a good way to test an unknown program.

My first impression was that it ran everything and you would have to
shut it off the be able to run a known program normally.

I wonder how it would work when online and running a bridge game from the "BBO"?
That would in my opinion be a good time to use Sandboxie.