Is it worth spending $15 per year on Sandboxie on top of the $35 of Shadow Defender?

Each to his/her own. I am not considering of acquiring that lifetime license. If Sandboxie was a program that would not get broken by system, av and other program updates, I might reconsider. I did buy AppGuard because it does not get broken, at least as easy. If I remember right the 3.x family versions of SBIE were more robust against changes.

As it is I am glad to pay the annual development support fee for Sandboxie. And if not able to afford, the free version is just fine too. For my usage it lacks only multiple sandboxes, since with AppGuard I can do without forced folders feature.

I have a free AV, so my security costs won't be much.

 

Sorry if I am misreading, but doesn't the lifetime license include lifetime updates? If not, what is the point of the lifetime license? Simply that it will not stop working at the end of the year but stop working at some software update?

 

See this: http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=18878#p100863

 

But see the reply by chrisc@invincea in the same thread where he says that multiple activations are allowed according to the EULA, which governs the license terms. He also said that the Licensing FAQ on the website would be updated to reflect this.

 

Oops i missed it.BTW i am the OP of that thread.

 

to answer the original question of the thread: "HELL YEAH"

 

I´ve been thinking about this, and what if the driver has modified the Windows OS kernel? I don´t think that light virtualization tools can clean the rootkit infection, but I might be wrong.

 

You may well be right. I wasn't considering that possibility. That's probably why Sandboxie doesn't allow drivers to be loaded. There is an outstanding request to have an option to block drivers from loading in Shadow Defender and it is likely that this feature will be added in the not-too-distant future.

 

In other threads here it is said that no rootkit has beaten Shadow Defender. Is it just a matter of time before one is created?

 

Btw, here´s some more info about Light Virtualization:

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/5...erall-safety-net-for-your-computer/index.html

 

It's a common misconception that Shadow Defender is basically a Sandboxie for your entire computer... and therefore consider having Sandboxie moot/pointless if they have Shadow Defender. But the two programs don't accomplish the same thing at all. Shadow Defender is more like a light/pseudo VM (I'm not using the term "pseudo" in a derogatory way, btw). More like a more user friendly VM, made more for light geeks as opposed to hardcore geeks. It will thwart persistence... as after rebooting your box is back in the same state it was when put into shadow mode. So any malware you had, or tweaks you made that broke something... *poof*... gone. But damage could already have been done before you got around to rebooting. Info could have been leaked out... passwords stolen... identity theft, etc...

But Sandboxie could have stopped that stuff from happening by isolating your session. It will protect you in the there & then, and not just by wiping the slate clean when you close the session.

So one is absolutely not a substitution for the other, or vice versa. They work great in tandem. I was fortunate enough to get Sandboxie back when lifetime licenses were still offered, and during a discount at that. And it was the best money I ever spent on computer security, hands down. And also very fortunate to get a key for SD given to me by a very generous member in here. But if I "had" to pay that money you mention, I absolutely would, without hesitation.

 

Good point, nice informative post.