Sandboxie, SafeSpace or Returnil?

[ratchet]

Assuming, with ones anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewalls enabled, these programs all have about the same degree of added protection, which one would you choose/recommend, based on ease of use or other negative/positive variables? Or would you recommend something else in this category? Thank You!

[osip]

Returnil works like a charm...start your pc and update your sec.progs,clean or run maintenance, and then before goin´ surfing turn on returnils ´on the fly´ option and you have your session/sys drive perfectly secured upon next reboot...simple,easy,and no conflicts whatsoever with other progs...I love it...Use other partition for saving files...

[tradetime]

I've had problems with Returnil, which I was unable to solve, Liked the concept of the program greatly, but it didn't like my box. Sandboxie, I have had no problems with so based on my personal experiences I would have to give it the nod. SafeSpace I have no experience with.

[trjam]

Sandboxie, hands down is the best.;)

[Franklin]

Using Sandboxie and Returnil here without any conflicts or slowdowns and are the only security apps I am running ATM.

Haven't tried SafeSpace but seeing as the developers are willing to come into forums to address any users concerns tells me it has passed the first test in good support for the product.

[zopzop]

all 3 are good. the one thing to keep in mind is, safespace is still in beta form. i'm trialing it now and it seems pretty stable for a beta, a few glitches here and there but nothing fatal. it seems to combine features of geswall (application firewall) and sandboxie (virtualization). just choose the one that works best on your system.

[ratchet]

Thank you! Still sleeping on it.

[Riverrun]

You can use Returnil and SandboxIE together without conflict or slowdown. Returnil has worked impeccably on one of my laptops, it'd buggy on the other one; the license keeps expiring but that's a minor annoyance compared to the superb protection it affords.

[EASTER]

-{ Quote: "Sandboxie, hands down is the best.;)" }-

I 100% in agreement. Sandboxie latest version is Flawless for all my units. A welcome relief.

[Davidpr]

-{ Quote: "You can use Returnil and SandboxIE together without conflict or slowdown. Returnil has worked impeccably on one of my laptops, it'd buggy on the other one; the license keeps expiring but that's a minor annoyance compared to the superb protection it affords." }-

Are you able to use your laptops mouse pads scrolling function when using Returnil?

[TerryWood]

I tried SafeSpace (I use Sandboxie & Returnil) today for the first time.

Very nice & pleasing GUI. I agree with the comments voiced in other threads that its very similar to BufferZone in concept but (in my view a lot easier to use).

Installation was not good. It hiccupped then stalled in an eggcup freeze. Using task manager appeared to jog it along., but when it installed I got an error message "The connection to SafeSpace agent is down...."

I could not get it to work. Even after a repair install. Uninstallation and then reinstalling it solved the problem.

SafeSpace, DOES NOT WORK WITH KEYSCRAMBLER. So if you do on line banking ARE YOU PRPARED TO GIVE UP KEY SCRAMBLER TO USE SafeSpace.

In my case I think not.

Given GesWall BufferZone and Sandboxie (the latter works with KeyScrambler) it is difficult to see what is on offer with SafeSpace that is really different apart from an attractive GUI. Their web site is full of the usual meaningless hyperbolae.

I am still awaiting a reply from the developers!!

Finally my biggest criticism is reserved for the 35mb download which results in a 6mb install. Absolutely ludicrous.

In my view a half decent product with a lousy start.

Come on SafeSpace developers you can do better!

Terry

[Riverrun]

-{ Quote: "Are you able to use your laptops mouse pads scrolling function when using Returnil?" }-

No problems on that score, David.

[Iangh]

-{ Quote: "
SafeSpace, DOES NOT WORK WITH KEYSCRAMBLER.
Terry" }-

I've informed the developers that keyscrambler doesn't work with Safespace and Defensewall. They are working on it.

Ian

[TerryWood]

To Iangh

Thanks for your help.

Perhaps you could diplomatically suggest to the developers two things.

1) If they want feed back which I have tried to give, they should increase the amount of space on their feedback form. It is postage stamp size. Suggests to me that they are not looking for much in the way of feedback.

2) You might suggest that one way to encourage people to use their software is to reply to requests for information. (Like is there any known problem with KeyScrambler) I have three automated replies. No actual response.

Terry

[Iangh]

-{ Quote: "To Iangh

Thanks for your help.

Perhaps you could diplomatically suggest to the developers two things.

1) If they want feed back which I have tried to give, they should increase the amount of space on their feedback form. It is postage stamp size. Suggests to me that they are not looking for much in the way of feedback.

2) You might suggest that one way to encourage people to use their software is to reply to requests for information. (Like is there any known problem with KeyScrambler) I have three automated replies. No actual response.

Terry" }-

I use Defensewall although I tried Safespace.

Ilya from Defensewall has communicated with Qian ("Chen") Wang of QFX. I understand QFX has to do something to Keyscrambler and Qian informs me they are looking into it. I hope they get a fix as I like the idea.

Wouldn't harm to let Qian know you are a Safespace user that would welcome a solution. qfxsoft'at'qfxsoftware.com

Ian

[Tidyup]

Hi all.

Firstly, apologies to TerryWood for the delay in responding.

Secondly, regarding some of the comments in this thread:

The download is 34MB as it includes four pre-requisite components:

Microsoft .NET 2.0 Redistributable
MSXML 6 Core Services
Visual C++ 2005 Runtime
Windows Installer 3.1

These account for about 29MB of the download, but because they are installed seperately to the SafeSpace application, they are not taken into account in the installation size.

This was done to make the evaluation a bit smoother for non-technical users, but given the issues it caused, was an error on our part.

It is .NET2.0 being installed that is causing the 'delays' or significant period of inactivity in the installation before a dialog appears. For this reason, and also to reduce the download size, that .NET 2.0 will not be part of the download in the next release, and will need to be manually installed.

Regarding the Keyscrambler plugin:

This product, like other products, is not something we tested SafeSpace with prior to Beta. It is this issue which a Beta program aims to find. Given the nature of our Inter-Process Communications virtualization, we expect there to be other 'incompatibilites' out there, and we will deal with them on a case by case basis.

I hope this clears things up a bit.

I value all your comments. I have already received an abundance of feedback, and I am impressed by the uptake of SafeSpace so far. Thanks to you all, we have made some significant improvements to SafeSpace stability, performanace and compatibility. It has been a successful Beta program and I am looking forward to the next release.

Best regards,

Kris.

Artificial Dynamics.

[TerryWood]

Kris

A reasoned reply to a number of posts in this forum. Thank you.

However, Insofar as KeyScrambler is concerned, unless your product provides an equal or alternative solution to KS then whatever vulnerabilities your product safeguards against it will still leave inputting of sensitive data NOT COVERED.

Now, people who use the likes of SafeSpace, Sandboxie et al ARE concerned about security. So it seems to me a simple question, "Why should I give up the security offered by KeyScrambler to use a product of which there are a number of similar variants if it reduces my overall security level."

I concede that SafeSpace is very pleasant on the eye simple to use and works well. But until you solve the issue of KeyScrambler compatibility I will not use SafeSpace. PUT SIMPLY IF I CANNOT PROTECT LOGIN DATA than all else falls by the wayside.

GesWall have said that KS is incompatible with GesWall and will not be modified in the new beta but thereafter it will a target to achieve.

So we know where we stand. Credit to them for that.

To Kris when will SafeSpace be modified to be compatible with KeyScrambler. Do you know it can be modified?

Thanks for your help since your reply will help me decide whether to keep SafeSpace on my system.

Regards

Terry

[Tidyup]

Hi TerryWood.

The issue with KeyScrambler has been raised as an issue and a fix will be investigated for our next release, date to be confirmed, but pencilled in for mid September.

I just want to elaborate on my previous post.

SafeSpace is in Beta, and so issues like this are expected. It is not a case of 'not supporting' KeyScrambler. It is a case of 'we were not aware there was an issue', which is exactly what we hoped to find in a Beta program.

As a side note, SafeSpace includes protection against keyloggers, and has been tested successfully against numerous methods. Since the Beta release, other methods have also been discovered and closed off. At this time we are not aware of any keylogger routines which are able to function inside SafeSpace, and we are always on the lookout for new ones.

Best regards,

Kris.

Artificial Dynamics.

[Peter2150]

Interesting comparison

Sandboxie download = 260KB
ReturnIL download = 1.65MB
Safespace download = 34MB

Evening taking away the Net 2.0 part. That it needs Net 2.0 is bad. I'd rethink that a bit.

Pete

[TerryWood]

I am happy to report that the developer has responded to all my outstanding queries. Thank you

Terry

[Old Monk]

-{ Quote: "Returnil works like a charm...start your pc and update your sec.progs,clean or run maintenance, and then before goin´ surfing turn on returnils ´on the fly´ option and you have your session/sys drive perfectly secured upon next reboot...simple,easy,and no conflicts whatsoever with other progs...I love it...Use other partition for saving files..." }-

Have to agree with osip on this one. Knocked ShadowSurfer off my machine due to the Session Lock facility. Very nice.

[Long View]

-{ Quote: "Assuming, with ones anti-virus, anti-spyware " }-
Haven't tried SafeSpace yet, didn't really get on with Sandboxie , Returnil without anti-virus or a anti-spyware is my chosen option.

[Old Monk]

-{ Quote: "Haven't tried SafeSpace yet, didn't really get on with Sandboxie , Returnil without anti-virus or a anti-spyware is my chosen option." }-

There seems to be a conflict between SafeSpace and Returnil. In fairness, the developers of SafeSpace seem very open about compatibilty issues and want to address them.

After all it is beta, so I will return again once they've sorted out Returnil because that is a 'keeper' for me.

[Tidyup]

Hi Old Monk.

I have been testing SafeSpace with Returnil, and there don't appear to be any issues regarding compatibility.

The only problem I encountered was in the virtual drive you create to 'share' files. This drive needs to be added to the SafeSpace configuration as Full Control in the Privacy page - this is because SafeSpace blocks access to all removable storage devices by default, and Windows sees the virtual drive as a removable one.

And because SafeSpace applications have any Administrative rights dropped, Returnil stops you writing to the root of the drive - so you need to create a folder in there first.

Best regards,

Kris.

Artificial Dynamics.

[TerryWood]

I concurr. I use Safespace with Returnil WinXPSP2 no problems

Terry

[Old Monk]

-{ Quote: "Hi Old Monk.

I have been testing SafeSpace with Returnil, and there don't appear to be any issues regarding compatibility.

The only problem I encountered was in the virtual drive you create to 'share' files. This drive needs to be added to the SafeSpace configuration as Full Control in the Privacy page - this is because SafeSpace blocks access to all removable storage devices by default, and Windows sees the virtual drive as a removable one.

And because SafeSpace applications have any Administrative rights dropped, Returnil stops you writing to the root of the drive - so you need to create a folder in there first.

Best regards,

Kris.

Artificial Dynamics." }-

Thanks for the reply Kris.

Think one poster raised whether there was a conflict in the other thread on SafeSpace.

I ran them both together the other day (no virtual drive) and things went a bit screwy (sorry , cant remember exact details)

From your post it seems you've been testing it out and cant find a problem and as Terry cant either, I'll go back and try them together again. If same happens I'll let you know ( with specific details this time ;) )

[Xerye]

I'll stick to Sandboxie. It's small, fast and save. :thumb:
Regards

[Long View]

Could someone who uses Returnil and Sandboxie advise what programs/applications they run via sandboxie ? Using Returnil means that if anything bad did get on my machine it would be gone at the next reboot - this only leaves open the remote possibility of data theft between reboots. Am I correct in thinking that if Firefox and IE were set to run within Sandboxie that my data would be protected ?

[Peter2150]

-{ Quote: "Could someone who uses Returnil and Sandboxie advise what programs/applications they run via sandboxie ? Using Returnil means that if anything bad did get on my machine it would be gone at the next reboot - this only leaves open the remote possibility of data theft between reboots. Am I correct in thinking that if Firefox and IE were set to run within Sandboxie that my data would be protected ?" }-

Yes. In sandboxie you can set it so nothing running in the sandbox can access your My Documents area. It works nicely.

[lucas1985]

-{ Quote: "Am I correct in thinking that if Firefox and IE were set to run within Sandboxie that my data would be protected ?" }-
Lot of data to digest in this thread (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=174380) (Erik asking ;D)
And here (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=174195) (XSS)