Returnil & Sandboxie

PLease can someone help clarify my thoughts.

I am a user of Sandboxie and broadly speaking understand its concepts and capabilities.

I am not a user of Returnil nor do I fully understand its concepts or capabilities. In this forum I have seen a fair amount of favourable commentary about Returnil and in addition it is free.

I have also seen a fair bit of talk about using Sandboxie & Returnil together.

Questions

1) If the two product are broadly similar (Sandboxie on a per application basis Returnil on a system wide basis) why is it considered beneficial to use the two together. Is it overkill or are there advantages if so what are they?

2) If the consensus is yes there is an advantage of using both together could someone paint the various scenarios on how you would use them together so I can understand their interaction and useage.

3) Anything better than Returnil thats free and works with Sandboxie

I know its a tall order so thanks in advance to anyone who can help

Thanks

Terry

 

1) I don't think that it's overkill! Neither program will stop malware from getting in but both will prevent it from damaging your system. In the case of SandboxIE, there may be a number of malign items that can bypass the protection,I'm not sure. Using Returnil on it's own means that if you're infected it will take a reboot to get rid of it. If you're using SandboxIE in conjunction with Returnil, then emptying the Sandbox will rid you of the malware WITHOUT a reboot.

3) If it's any use to you, I've been using Returnil since the first public release and my system has been 100% free of infection; I haven't found as much as a wayward cookie in that time. I can't speak of other virtual systems but Returnil has worked they way it's supposed to for me, it protects the MBR which PS 2.6 doesn't (read the Horus saga), it employs minimal resources and It's easy to use.

 

I gave up on PowerShadow, and thinking about trying Returnil & Sandboxie. Following this thread and hoping to find enough imput to convince me to "take the plunge."

 

Using returnil alone would be suffcient imo, thats all i use. Using sandboxie may help to cut down on reboots if thats an issue. One slight drawback with returnil is it only protects the system partition.
Powershadow 2.6 which is a freebie allows you to protect all partitions but doesn't provide the MBR protection that returnil does. Powershadow 2.82 allows protection of all partitions and the MBR however i don't think the free activation works anymore.

 

I'm fairly new to both products and have used both together off and on. You could always try one first and get comfortable with it before adding the other. Sometimes I use just Sandboxie for normal surfing and if I think things are going to get rough or I want to try a new program, I will turn on Returnils' Session Lock to protect my system partition.

I'm no expert, but running both together may provide that extra needed protection since Returnil only protects the system partition. In theory, Sandboxie isolates or protects my system from the internet and if something sneaks by it, then Returnil RVS should protect my system partition.

Sandboxie also provides another opportunity to scan a downloaded file before letting it in the system and before eventually moving it to Returnils' Virtual Partition or your data partition. It is like having a cup of water in a zip-lock bag which is contained in a plastic container.

Is all this necessary? I guess it depends on what your doing or how protected you want to be. It is weird how fast you get accustomed to having that extra layer of protection. I feel exposed when not using one or the other.

As far as I know, PowerShadow 2.8.2 is no longer available free. I think the cut-off date was June 11th. Also, I have Sandboxie version 2.86, they have a new version 3, but it looks like some are having problems with it. Try to get 2.86 if you can.
http://www.sandboxie.com/ Have a look around, the site is helpful.
http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?DownloadSandboxie At the bottom they have a Old Versions link.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Returnil_Virtual_System_Personal_Edition_d5702.html

Cheers, innerpeace