Sandboxie - Reset IE including registry changes on host

While trying to install various versions of IE next to each other for cross-browser testing on a Windows 7 host with Sandboxie it so happened that I ran IE 8 unsandboxed, yes on the host, darn! Quite unhappy about that.

After resetting IE 8 with Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced -> Reset -> Delete personal settings -> Reset it should have reverted all the changes while having had run unsandboxed just for those 40-90 seconds, no? The emphasis is on "should" here.

What else can I do to possibly get the registry changes back done by that or can I "trust" IE to properly "reset" itself with the above procedure? I even have a clean OS image before that but then would need to do quite a bit of work again to back to the state the host is in now. Or could I take the part of the registry before running IE unsandboxed from the OS image and simply copy that over the IE related part of the registry the host has now? Though I would refrain from this really unless there is a detailed list of all the registry entries that IE changes on first run.

Alternatively I am thinking of ridding the host completely of IE 8 and running that in a VM as well, just thought for convenience I might as well leave it on the host and run it sandboxed ALL the time, though after fiddling with installs and Sandboxie I simply forgot to change the settings back to "Force Internet Explorer to run in this sandbox".

Any advice is most welcome.

Thank you

 

no good idea to mix up with several IE versions. and IMO ist installing another IE in sandbox not possible cause setup need to replace system files and mark those for next startup - sandboxie cant do that.

if you want cross browser testing you should get them virtually or some software like this:

Online (IE only)
http://netrenderer.de/

Offline (IE only)
http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage

Offline commercial
http://www.browseemall.com/

Online commercial (expensive)
http://crossbrowsertesting.com/
http://www.browserstack.com/
https://browserlab.adobe.com/en-us/index.html
https://saucelabs.com/ (200 minutes per month free)

Review
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/08/07/a-dozen-cross-browser-testing-tools/

Hint: latest IE for XP in Enterprises is v8, Vista is v9, Win7/8 is v11. Firefox latest is v31/v31esr, Chrome unknown, Opera unknown (Opera is futile since it changed to webkit2 like Chrome, stupid stuff), Opera 12.17 with the latest real opera engine -> Opera 12.17 portable http://www.opera-usb.com/

 

Great post with tons of useful info, thank you so MUCH!! One other site I just learned about today is https://spoon.net/ Any ways, really thanks for all this condensed info in one post!!

Do you do web development yourself?

What is webkit2 and why is Opera futile because of that?

Using portable versions of Firefox, Opera and Chrome from PortableApps.com by the way. Seems good enough for me, but it is it good enough for real life professional web dev stuff?


Conclusion:
Will try and remove IE 8 from the Win 7 host here as good as possible and keep all IE versions in linked clones of a base VM (using VirtualBox) I am happy with, so to speak each linked clone with another version of IE in it.

Did see that Sandboxie cannot take multiple installs of IE unfortunately. Would be nice if this was possible, oh well, quite happy with doing this in the VMs.

Any ideas to securely and safely remove IE from a Windows host? I mean completely and safely? I am thinking of going the Start -> Default Programs -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off route. That should do, right?

Best Regards

 

Download test VMs of IE for OSX, Linux or Windows

 

uninstall via system control panel > software
anyhow you cant remove the IE core from windows because windows itself needs that core - uninstalling ie means removing the gut laid under c:\program files\internet explorer - pretty pointless. get the latest for your system (v11) and VM the rest.

i remember the xenocode virtual IE, but i also read (again) that those destroy the installed IE - so never ever.

Different Firefox - get the portables of it - but as i mentioned you should only test the latest versions (see above).
Chrome is also available as a portable

all on http://portableapps.com

HTH