Sandboxie Acquired by Invincea

If you mean, no freezes, no crashes, no BSOD, then hiding the message is fine.

Bo

 

EXACTLY. Thanks

 

Lots of assumption there. A lot.

 

Of course, i'm not a coder and even i won't have access to the code. I just observe something happening and react accordingly based on my experience.

Sbie trigger an alert/alarm/error popup so by logic , you can't say "everything is fine", the only thing you ask yourself is if this issue is minor or major; but it is still an issue that have to be investigated and solved if possible (whatever it comes from Sandboxie itself, user mistake or because incompatibilities with another software).

Maybe other users don't care, but i am used to beta-test lot of softwares reporting bugs/issues, so for me , it is something that matters.

 

Sure, we can say everything is fine by hiding certain messages. We have the devs that would know. SBIE also has tools to tell you if a window is not sandboxed. Error messages don't mean much. Usually. There is a dirty little secret that a lot of coders hide errors. It sucks, but they do. Ronen was guilty of that and we make sure errors are created. Some errors you can tell are edited by us to display a certain code. So they can be specific. But, errors are triggered based on a error that is expected to happen. When you have a program like SBIE that has to work at a level so deep in Windows AND then act as a layer between Windows and the app, Well, It's a wonder we don't have errors all the time and it's amazing that SBIE actually works.
Most errors triggered by SBIE are not SBIE related, but related to that APP that doesn't understand where it's at or what it needs. That's isn't directly a SB problem. This is also a major reason we focus on directly supporting a small amount of programs. Otherwise, we'd need 1000s of people and direct relationsips with many software companies. That is simply a utopia idea that in not anchored in any realty.
Hiding "errors" (quotes, because an error message, may not mean an error) is routine and normal in many programs.
As for "something is wrong"---- something isn't working. No. That's assumptive as well. Especially if you've confirmed that the program is sandboxed.
We could easily hide all errors. You'd have none. And you wouldn't be any the wiser. No one wants that. But if we say "hide" it, we usually have the expertise to know why we are telling you that.

 

My opinion and experience with Sandboxie messages. The vast majority of Sandboxie messages we see are not errors but information messages. Most of this messages are like the one Pete mentioned. And clearly, that type of messages are not errors. In my personal case use, in two computers with different systems where just about any program that runs, runs sandboxed every time it runs, I get one meaningless error in one computer.

Lets take a look at that error (which I hide so it doesn't bother me and never get to see it), why I get it and when I get it. First of all, I get it in my XP, my old XP. I started getting message 2203 at the time when the first beta 4 came out. And it only happens when I run the ancient version of KMPlayer that I run in my XP. But not only that, the player runs great sandboxed, every video that plays plays great but it only happens when I play a very high quality video AND fast forward the video at very high speed. At no other time message 2203 gets triggered.

So, my error gets triggered when I am using an ancient system, using an ancient version of a video player and only when fast forwarding at very high speed a very high quality video. Thats it. At no other time I get anything else that can be considered an error in XP and nothing comes close in W7. In W7, I get nothing that can be sort of considered an error message.

Lets talk more about my error message. Remember, I only get the message when I play a high quality video that frankly, it is not really designed to be played in my old XP, or to be played with the antique version of KMPlayer that I use. So, when I fast forward this type of video, my CPU usage goes very high, I can hear the fan, the player freezes a little and that would be the time when the message gets triggered. This sort of thing can not be blamed on Sandboxie as even if I run the player playing the same video unsandboxed, the freeze occurs as soon as the CPU usage goes sky high for a few seconds.

Bo

 

Also a lot of programs ask for access permissions they don't really need (like opening a process with update rights), so blocking is technically an error, functionally neutral (program works as expected) and security wise an improvement (less attack surface).

For the record, please note that I am defending Sandboxie, @bo elam

 

Most of the time, the messages are legit... And sometimes there are "errors" that have no impact on the programs [i.e just hide them].

Usually, those are troublesome unless the program crashes and we have data to look at. Some SBIE messages [like the RCPSS -1 error] have other special characters in the message [-1, -3 and/or 34/105] to narrow the issue down even further. That was done specifically in that error by us...so we could say "oh it's that issue" or "oh, no..something else.."

Then you have program A that doesn't like the sandbox and goes wonky, SBIE detects that [or both], it [they] then displays an error that seems to meet the fault. Sometimes that's a red herring and that's where .dmp, logs, procmons, etc come in very handy. It also helps to know what 3rd party security you're running since that's about 98% of our headaches.

Then the quesiton becomes, is this a 1 off? 2 off? Repoducable? What is Program A? Is Program A something that x amount of users use? Resources needed to commit to it?

Even if it's something we don't "look" at, we still make notes of it, as with errors, it could be that red herring that is actually something else...and we might be able to fix seemingly unrelated problem that suddenly fixed Program A.

It's like.."....Hey, thanks for fixing the lag in Chrome!.... [which we didn't address directly] Oh, and "..my dishwasher works now too!" [We def didn't address that..]

 

Beta 5.13.1 is out. Here is the link to the installers and change log.

http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=58&p=121863#p121863

Bo

 

If anyone has any suggestions for updating Sandboxie's User Interface, now is the time to do it and here is where.
http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=23077#p121819

Bo

 

Bo,
re: 5.13.1....any comment, clarification regarding > writes to memory all over the place
Does "writes to memory all over the place" refer to Sandboxie...?
Edit: never mind. "writes to memory" refers to AWM
Concern, Sandboxie squeezed to satisfy Actual Tools.

 

Yes, I believe that's what Curt meant. Perhaps he ll say more about it after seeing your post at the Sandboxie forum. Here is more from Syrinx who uses AWM and knows that program.
http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&p=121882#p121882

Bo

 

No way, bjm. Sandboxie would never do that.

Bo

 

<<Things like AVM don't help SBIE. They usually hurt...>>

 

bjm, my thinking, you saying "Sandboxie squeezed to satisfy Actual Tools, etc.", you meant that you wonder if Sandboxie would open a hole that could be used by malware to escape the sandbox in order to solve an issue between Sandboxie and another program (in this case, AWM). I never seen Sandboxie do that. The developers wouldn't do it. Thats what I seen. And you have too.

Bo

 

Okay, "Actual Tools" is way, way over my-pay-grade. Apology n' Luv to Invincea.

 

Just installed, and as usual flawless on Windows 8 (64 bit) using Chrome. The developers are very dedicated, thanks.

 

Same results (W7 and XP).

Bo

 

5.13.1

 

The 2 issues with 5.12 have been found and addressed.
AWM is fixed in 5.13.1 beta.
The sporadic copy / paste issue goes back to 5.11.8 and has to do with some code for Excel, etc.
Excel handles copy and paste differently. Programs have different ways of interacting with the clipboard, so some work outright, some require extra reinforcement, some just crash (i.e Pidgin copy and paste will cause it to crash... still does.)
......So the branch fix for copy and paste dealing with both Excel and the non working behavior as seen in 5.12, should be addressed in beta 5.13.2.

 

Hi Craig, for what is worth, there is no Copy Paste issue between Sandboxie, the clipboard and Excel in my XP. None, before or after 5.11.8.

Bo

 

LOL, actually that's good to know & it's what we've seen. It depends on the OS, the program and the way they all come together and interact with the clipboard. Of course, with XP, things seemed to be more black and white. However, this issue in general has a long long history of working, not working, working, sorta working with Sandboxie. I think we have over 50+ pages going back many years.

 

Not only in XP, in my W7, I haven't experienced the Copy Paste issue either. In that laptop I don't have Office, I use Libre but copy and pasting works without issue for me no matter the program that's running sandboxed.

Bo

 

my first test each beta is Copy Paste