Sandboxie question

[Chuck57]

I've just today downloaded and am running Sandboxie out of curiosity. Never used a sandbox application before.

I ran through the little tests listed at the Sandboxie site after downloading and all seems to be working okay.

My question: I have Firefox up and it has the #......# things on either side. Is THAT all there is to it? I mean, is Sandboxie actively working and stopping bad things with no further configuration necessary? It seems too simple and easy.

[Bob D]

-{ Quote: "It seems too simple and easy." }-
Simple and easy are good.
-{ Quote: "...is Sandboxie actively working and stopping bad things..." }-
Easy enough to test.
Download a file (anything).
After download is complete, look in Explorer (or whatever file manager you use).
You should not be able to find it.
Right click 'Sandboxie Control' (that slice of pizza looking thing in taskbar) "Contents of Sandbox"/"Explore Contents". You should find your file there.
And there it will stay, until you physically move it to your 'un-sandboxed' harddrive.

[Chuck57]

Yep, downloaded a file and it was exactly the way you explained it. It was in a Sandboxie file. I think this program is a keeper. I'm guessing, since I've been burned a couple of times downloading supposedly safe files and finding them infected, that this is a nearly perfect situation.

Download the file, run Kaspersky (or av of choice) and, if clean run it or delete it unopened.

I need to play with it a bit more. Did figure out how to run Yahoo messenger in Sandboxie. Great program, small and a pretty light hit on my system for something that does so much. There's got to be a downside LOL

[Bob D]

-{ Quote: "small and a pretty light hit on my system for something that does so much" }-
I think it offers more security per Mb than any other app.
-{ Quote: "There's got to be a downside LOL" }-
There is. The damn thing works.
Many times I downloaded something I wanted to keep, saved it, exited browser (forgetting that I was running it in Sandboxie). Oops..gone! Damn!
Oh well, we all do stupid things time to time...

[fred128]

Am I taking this too far or if you run a sandbox, you don't need anti-virus or anti-malware programs? Just delete the contents of the sandbox and that's it? That would be pretty hard to accept.

[Franklin]

No security is 100% so I would still run an AV and FW but Sandboxie certainly provides one of the best first line defenses against any inet borne malware,especially zero day attacks.

You have your black and white list security apps while SB is a no list security app.It just stops everything from executing to the real system.

Give it a bit of time to get used to it and I'm sure you will like it.

Has a support forum - http://sandboxie.com/phpbb/

Quote from - http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?FrequentlyAskedQuestions

How safe would I be, by using Sandboxie?

You would be quite safe using Sandboxie. It should be noted that, from time to time, people are able to find some vulnerability in Sandboxie, an open hole through which malicious software can still infiltrate the system.

This happens once every few months, on average, and is quickly resolved by closing the hole that is the attack vector.

Thus it's a good idea to have more traditional anti-malware software. This is is the subject of the following question.


Do I need other solutions if I use Sandboxie?

Sandboxie may be your first line of defense, but it should certainly be complemented by the more traditional anti-virus and anti-malware solutions. These solutions can let you know if your system does become infected in any way.

Typically, those other solutions employ various forms of pattern matching to discover malicious software and other threats. Sandboxie, on the other hand, quite simply does not trust any software code enough to let it out of the sandbox.

The combination of the two approaches should keep malicious software -- which is serving the interest of other unknown parties -- out of your computer.

[controler]

I don't know about your setup but when i download something it goes to my sandboxed desktop and even if I close my browser but do not delete contents of sandbox, the file remains. I guess clearing contents upon browser closer can have some downfalls.

controler

[Bob D]

-{ Quote: "Am I taking this too far or if you run a sandbox, you don't need anti-virus or anti-malware programs? Just delete the contents of the sandbox and that's it? That would be pretty hard to accept." }-
Amazing but true. (In theory anyway.)
Viruses, cookies, everything from your browsing.... all gone.
There have been some "proof of concept" scenarios claiming that sandboxes are not 100% bulletproof, but in the real world, I believe them to be quite safe.
I would, however, heed Franklin's advice. Don't un-subscribe to your security software just yet.

[fred128]

I wouldn't uninstall anything but I feel a lot safer with sandboxie. Just to give you one example, I use CCleaner. Today, after using sandboxie, I used CCleaner to wipe away all of the the residue and it came up with 39 kb that it cleaned. I usually get at least 16 megs or more. This program is great and the author is very, very clever.