skype 7.x and sandboxie help

Discussion in 'sandboxing & virtualization' started by mantra, Jan 7, 2016.

  1. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    Hi
    is there a configuration to run skype 7.x under sandboxie?

    i tried to run inside a sandboxie , but it's amazing slow
    i have a portable version of skype and it take a lot to run under sandoboxie

    and it's even slow to send a message

    any advises ?

    thanks
     
  2. syrinx

    syrinx Registered Member

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    I'm not a fan of skype (though I do love my sandboxie) and was dismayed to find that a piece of software like that was (along with SBIE) [in the past] (though I've managed to avoid recent builds including 7.) so troublesome.

    I still use a 6.x version which plays/runs nicely in SBIE but was surprised to see this same piece of software existed on their (eg sandboxies) 'touted' list yet retained many issues when mixed with SBIE.
    Here's where it can be found and while it may seem silly my(/our) current situation still forces me to use this piece of *)(@^ software and as of today and it annoys me to no end seeing this piece of troublesome software on their own client list yet continuing to cause so many issues with the latest builds!

    How Skype (eg MS) makes use of Sandboxie these days is a mystery but I've begun to wonder (sarcasm) if they just purchased licenses to test and ensure users experienced issues!.. =(

    My main issue(s) in the past was CPU usage while 'not doing anything' eg in the background. I was able to mitigate it in a few ways but it always seemed to creep up again and so I've tried to stick with a version that didn't exhibit this problem at all. For me that is Skype 6.16.59
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2016
  3. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi
    i don't like skype too
    but sadly i have many friends that push me to use it
    skype run under sandboxie but it's amazing slow
    i wonder if there is a configuration to run skype smoothly under sandboxie
    thanks
     
  4. gottadoit

    gottadoit Security Expert

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    Interestingly my son also complained to me that Skype was slow running under Hitman Pro Alert
    It may not just be SBIE and having HMPA also showing issues (at least for me) could help isolate and understand the issue

    I have not investigated yet, he was complaining about slow delivery of messages
    I wanted to use it as a learning exercise for him and see if he could diagnose it himself (and help him along as he needs it)
     
  5. Mr.X

    Mr.X Registered Member

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    Yes, I can confirm Skype v7.x is slow too here...
     
  6. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    Any news/workaround on this?
     
  7. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi
    i have noticed in the past that it worked fast under sandboxie 32bit , haven't tested the last version
    because i use sandboxie 64bit
     
  8. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    Thanks for the fast response! I tried the latest portable version (7.18.0.114) under 64-bit - seems to run smoothly here.

    However, why does it want me to recover files out from the sandbox every time I open Skype? Isn't that the whole idea, to keep everything sandboxed?
     

    Attached Files:

  9. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    You getting that prompt to recover from Sandboxie because Immediate recovery is enabled in Sandbox settings. When that setting is enabled, you get a prompt by SBIE as soon as files are created in the sandbox.

    You can disable that setting by unticking "Immediate recovery" in Sandbox settings>Recovery>Immediate recovery.

    I have never used Skype but what you see in the prompt are changes made within the sandbox, they look to me like settings you changed, so, if you want the change or changes to be saved out of the sandbox.....you click Recover to same folder.

    Bo
     
  10. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    Hey Bo,

    Thanks for replying. It's a little mysterious, but that checkbox was already unticked! Any ideas?

    For now I'm keeping Skype's "setting files" inside the sandbox then. Let's see if that will lead to any issues.

    Off-topic. Cool to see you're from Nicaragua! My girlfriend is too. Well, Nicaraguan ingredients at least. Her parents fled to the States during the Sandinista revolution. Certainly a country with an eventful past, and from what I heard it's very beautiful!
     
  11. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    You are welcome, dwarflord. About the checkbox being unticked and still getting prompted, perhaps you need to delete the sandbox. You can either set that up to be done automatically when you close Skype or you can do it manually.

    The Sandinistas were and still are as bad as the worst kind of malware you can think of. Other than that, life is beautiful here. You probably in Miami. I lived in Miami during the 80s. :)

    Bo
     
  12. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    Ah, I see. If I delete the sandbox, either manually or automatically, my settings will be lost too - unless I store them outside the sandbox. So SBIE is actually try help me avoid that!
    Also, since you're a pro, does it matter to install programs within the sandbox, such as Skype Portable in this case, or is running the actual program sandboxed enough?

    Oh, Miami would have been exotic! However, my boat would have need to take me lot farther than that. I'm from Scandinavia :) You didn't see that coming did you!
     
  13. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    If I was to use a program like Skype, I would install it in the system, and run it sandboxed. And set the sandbox to delete automatically after closing the program. But just for testing, a few minutes ago, I ran the portable installer in the sandbox and the program installed well and ran well under SBIE. So, if you like trying installing the portable version of Skype in the sandbox, go ahead and try it. I did not get any kind of errors.

    I saw the recovery prompts from SBIE, like in your picture. I am not familiar with Skype, I am not sure if you should recover any of the listed files. I suggest you don't recover anything, close the messages and try using Skype the same as you would use it if it was not running under SBIE. If you can do that, then you don't need to recover anything.

    You are right, I didn't see it coming (to us here, Scandinavia is as exotic as it can get).:)

    Bo
     
  14. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    Thanks for the info and even doing a test, Bo. I ran the installer in sandbox and using Skype as I normally do, everything works fine for sure.
    I'm not recovering anything either, as you suggested. I guess I have to live with the recovery prompts popping up every time I start Skype, even though Immediate Recovery is not enabled on the sandbox. I wonder if this is a bug?

    If anyone is curious why I insist running Skype in sandbox these days, here's a blog post http://creattic.co/intrusive-skype-upgrades/
     
  15. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    One thing you can do to stop getting recovery prompts is after you start Skype, when you get the first prompt, tick "Don't prompt again for Immediate recovery until all programs in this sandbox have ended", you ll see the box at the bottom on the left corner of the Immediate recovery Window. I think I did test that setting and it worked fine.

    One thing I noticed is that after closing Skype, programs don't terminate. If you want to totally close out the program, you can click Terminate all programs via right clicking Sandboxie control, Click Terminate all programs or Sandboxie control, hover the browser over the sandbox where Skype is running and click Terminate all programs. You can also click Exit via right clicking the Skype icon.

    I suggest you create a separate sandbox for Skype. This is specially so if you are going to use it as a program you install in a sandbox. And run it from there. As you have tested it. I wouldn't keep Skype installed in the same sandbox where you are going to run your browser, etc.

    Bo
     
  16. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    Sadly, the prompt pops up even if I check the "Don't prompt again for..". You can see I have it checked in the picture I attached earlier. That's why I wondering if this a bug or not. Maybe you have a better machine :-D

    "Terminate programs" was a great trick, I never seen Skype exit so fast either! All I wish was a shortcut for it.
    And yup, Skype has it's own sandbox since the beginning. I'm planning to run separate sandboxes for all sandboxed applications really.
     
  17. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    Yes, I see in the picture, you already had the setting ticked. I ll see what I can find out about the prompts and Skype and if its possible to completely eliminate them. I ll let you know about that later, maybe tomorrow. By the way, when I tested installing Skype, I still got the prompts even after disabling Immediate recovery. So, I saw what you see. But I am not sure if they went away after ticking Don't prompt again....

    You can terminate all programs as I mentioned earlier or you can create a shortcut with the path below. Maybe thats what you want. And place it at the taskbar. I got one like that there.

    "C:\Program Files\Sandboxie\Start.exe" /terminate_all

    What do you do to run Skype? What steps are you taking to run the program once is installed in the sandbox?

    Bo
     
  18. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    Yeah, if you find a way to get rid of the prompts that would be great!

    Awesome, your shortcut solution worked. My shortcut points to: "C:\Program Files\Sandboxie\Start.exe" /box:Skype /terminate_all
    Now quitting Skype is just one click away!

    I generated a shortcut through SBIE's Windows Shell Integration, and that's what I use to launch Skype.
     
  19. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    If you like the shortcut to terminate only programs running in the Skype sandbox, you need to get rid of the (_all) at the end. It has to be like below. The way you have it now, clicking the shortcut still terminates all programs in all sandboxes.
    "C:\Program Files\Sandboxie\Start.exe" /box:Skype /terminate

    Creating shortcuts for programs you install in a sandbox works great. I recommend you check Sandboxies Start menu, you can run programs you install in sandboxes from there too, also works nice.

    Bo
     
  20. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    dwarflord, I found out a few things about Skype and Sandboxie since we last talk yesterday. For one, you only get the Immediate recovery prompts with the portable version of Skype. According to Invincea, Skype is trying to write outside of the sandbox and SBIE it treating that as a file save.

    One of the guys at Invincea told me that he doesnt get the prompts with the regular version. And I can confirm that. He has Skype on his host and I just tested it installing it sandboxed, and again, all went well with the installation, and this time I saw no immediate recovery prompts.

    So, this is what I suggest you do. If you like to keep the portable version of Skype, do it, and close the messages when you get them and don't recover anything or, try the version you get at the link below (to eliminate prompts).
    http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-computer/

    Bo
     
  21. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    Nice conclusion. I'm going to install the regular version then!

    Thanks, Bo.
     
  22. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    OK, so I tried both alternatives and I prefer the Portable version. Here's why:

    1. Skype Regular version installs at all random places, I don't even know them all. But for example Program Files, AppData etc. For the Portable version, you can choose where to install it.
    2. It needs Root Privileges - Portable version doesn't. If I can have a working application without root, I'd go with that.

    So we figured out that the annoying and unstoppable prompts are Skype Portable's fault, but could there still be a fix for this? Ticking the box "Do not prompt" should apply for any program - and if it happens to Skype Portable it might happen to other programs as well.
     
  23. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    I think you should install Sandboxie 5.10 RC if you are not using that version. I had 5.09.1 the other day when I tested. A few minutes ago, I tested again installing the portable version of Skype, this time using SBIE 5.10, and this time I got no prompts of any kind. It appears to me that this version fixes the inconvenience of being prompted.

    I think you should install 5.10 over the top and create a new sandbox for Skype. I suggest the only change you make to Sandbox settings before running the installer in unticking Immediate recovery. Works in my test. The link for SBIE 5.10 RC, below.:)
    http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=22545#p118570

    Bo
     
  24. dwarflord

    dwarflord Registered Member

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    Sorry for the late update.

    Thanks, Bo. I can confirm that this works without annoyances on the new Sandboxie version (5.10).
     
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