Question about Sandboxie

Well, I am thinking to install Sandboxie but I have a question. When I run Internet Explorer 7 sandboxed, will the internet speed be slower?
Thank you in advance

 

It shouldn't. I don't notice any slow downs browsing but there is a slight delay when first loading your browser sandboxed.

 

It used to about half a year ago,but now is blazing fast...feel free to try it,its the only true way to see if it fits your system..

 

The two answers that preceed mine seem to me common experiences. Some people state that there is a longer pause when their browser initially opens...but browsing speed thereafter is unaffected by Sandboxie. I run IE7 and that's what I notice. Others state Sandboxie has little to no effect on the speed of either opening their browser or surfing.

I've got tons of bookmarked favorites; perhaps they are factors in how fast a sandboxed browser opens. But considering the protection SBIE offers, I don't mind the short wait.

 

Thank you for your replies.
I installed Sandboxie and I am very satisfied. It has little to no impact when I am surfing. Great!
Anyway, I have got another question. Does Sandboxie create a virtual place only for files or also for registry keys/items? If I install an application with Sandboxie and then, I delete the contents of the Sandboxie box, then will the application be COMPLETELY removed including all registry keys?
I hope that you have understood what I mean.

 

Yes, if you install a sandboxed application, then when you delete the contents of that sandbox, the app and affected registry keys are flushed as well. So in that sense, it's a cleaner way of testing* software. One thing to keep in mind: Windows monitors programs that are being installed and removed from the system even if they are sandboxed and will create a few registry keys (typically MUI's and ARP's). They aren't Sandboxie leaks and I easily clean them up using CCleaner. If you are more curious about this, there are a number of informative threads in Sandboxie's forum. http://sandboxie.com/phpbb/

* Depending on the software, you may have to tweak some Sandboxie settings to get the program to properly run. For instance, if a sandboxed program wants to burn data to a disk, then you would likely need to allow Sandboxie to have full access to your applicable drive.

 

Could you please tell me some Windows monitors programs?

 

I use SBIE for both FF as well as some other programs (mostly internet facing applications) - and I didn't notice any slowdowns, both in terms of network connection and subjective time of starting a sandboxed application.

I would even dare to say that keeping your hard drive defragmented and optimized would have a much greater impact on the perceived speed of the applications in scope here, whether sandboxed, or not

 

Are you referring to my earlier comment that "Windows monitors programs that are being installed and removed from the system even if they are sandboxed and will create a few registry keys (typically MUI's and ARP's)." ?
If so, then what I meant is that if you have a Windows operating system (such as XP, Vista, etc.) on your computer, then it notices when you add or remove sandboxed programs from your computer and creates a few registry keys outside of the sandbox as a result. I mentioned this because some users of Sandboxie are initially surprised when they see these registry entries occur outside of the sandbox.

If, by your question, you are interested in software to track sandboxed registry changes, then this thread may be helpful: http://sandboxie.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4793&highlight=sandboxdiff

 

Thank you and one last question (I hope ):
Supposing I run Internet explorer sandboxed and I download a virus, will it be able to do changes in registry? And if I delete the Sandbox box, will the changes remain? What is more, is it possible for a virus to escape from the Sandbox box?

 

No, the virus won't be able to change the registry. Sandboxie virtualizes part of the registry, so that applications can run. Therefore, the virus may look like it is modifying your system, but in actuality it doesn't. If you delete everything in the sandbox, all changes will be deleted.

As far as malware escaping the sandbox... well, assuming that there are no vulnerabilities in Sandboxie, nothing should be able to escape. From time to time, however, such things happen. But the developer has always been quick at fixing the problems.

 

plus dont forget the drop my rigths feature and also you could force my documents and destop to run sandbox

 

@Football: ambient's and jmonge's responses are good posts. With it's default settings, Sandboxie provides very powerful protection. But one can easily tighten a sandbox by customizing it. Some frequently used settings in that regard are shown below and described here: http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?

 

Thank you all for your help.

 

Another question:

Are the standard settings good enough to prevent exploits and drive-by-downloads?

 

ance- go into your sandbox settings and click the restrictions tree - then internet access - "the following programs will be the only programs in this sandbox that can access the internet" click add by file and browse to internet explorer - then apply. nothing other than your browser will be able to connect to the net

make sure you allow access to your bookmarks through the sandbox, and specify a download location for downloading files

 

I'm a bit confused here.

I thought Sandboxie somewhat of a virtualizer for the browser.

But as it's described here, it looks like system virtualization ??

Can you seriously run a bunch of programs within the sandbox ?

 

OK, it seems I just learned something new

Then, is there any point in running system virtualization software like Returnil or others instead of Sandboxie ?