Sandboxie Acquired by Invincea

I will post about it, but to be honest, MS Office 2013 is really pure junk, M$ should be ashamed of producing something like this. I've tested Kingsoft/WPS Office inside the sandbox and it works just fine.

 

Yes exactly, it's heavy, ugly, unhandy and takes up 1.7GB of disk space. Also, if apps who don't install a driver and do not use a internal sandboxing mechanism (like Chrome) don't work inside the sandbox, you might want to think twice about installing it on the real system, that's my rule of thumb.

 

Rasheed, I used both, Kingston and Libre Office in my W7. I find Libre portable working better with Sandboxie than Kingston. And much easier to set up in its own restricted sandbox. I had a tough time setting up Kingston's sandbox, it was a challenge.

Bo

 

Hi Pete, I never used Outlook, sandboxed or unsandboxed. I used Outlook Express up to about 2 years ago, it always worked well sandboxed. I think there is a problem with Outlook running sandboxed. Our good friend Chris1341 posted about it at the Sandboxie forum. I think you and Rasheed should post about your issues in the same thread. He explicitly mentions Outlook not running sandboxed at all.
http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=20140

Bo

 

Well, there's always O2010... Which is where I'm sticking. I run O2010 Outlook fine in a sandbox, though I'm uncomfortable having any program with internet access also having direct access to my data. Which is to say, I'd like to separate my mail client into a get-send client, and then have it pass that "over the wall" to my email store, search and view client (which would be separately sandboxed and have internet access blocked). Since it's store and forward anyway, that's "shouldn't" be too hard, but then we're stuck with Outlook for various reasons you mention. I'd like to see all main applications make a reasonable attempt at sandboxing the same way Chrome has done, because Office is a plum target, and in O2013, MS appears to have focussed more on its distribution & licencing rather than user safety.

 

Bo, you and I had this very same discussion about two years ago. And, I had this discussion on the Sandboxie forums. Getting Outlook to work sandboxed with other programs, including your default browser, is very tricky. To this day, I cannot figure out how to get my browser to open sandboxed when clicking an email link in my sandboxed Outlook.

 

Perhaps is a setting thing. If you are using a highly restricted sandbox for Outlook, I would loosen the restrictions a bit to see if it makes a difference. For example, test running Outlook in an unrestricted sandbox and no Drop rights. That might be the right environment to get your programs interacting well with Outlook under SBIE. When I used OE, I think Drop Rights was a setting that couldn't be used. But I don't remember now.

Something else. When I tested Kingston in W7, I had to go through a lot of hoops to get it working nicely in the sandbox. There were messages that I had to hide, otherwise, they were non stop due to Kingston continuously attempting to check for updates. If I recall correctly, I had to allow every program to run otherwise the sandbox would not delete automatically. I was able to keep all programs in the sandbox from having internet access but had to hide that particular message. It was messy, Kingston is the worst program ever for me to get it working smoothly sandboxed. But once I got all things down, all was well.

Bo

 

Hi Kendall, I remember you and I talking about it. If you are running Outlook sandboxed, your links should run sandboxed automatically as you click on them. Or, if you are not running Outlook sandboxed but your default browser is a Forced program, the links should open up sandboxed. Isn't this the way things related to links in emails working for you?

Bo

 

I know Outlook is working for you. But I get that the interacting of Outlook with other programs in the sandbox is where your issue lays. I think you should test using an unrestricted sandbox. It might make a difference.

Bo

 

Can you give a bit more info, what was so difficult with WPS/Kingston Office?

 

Rasheed, whenever I set up a dedicated sandbox, I try to balance usability and security. In the case of the Kingston sandbox, I was not able to do that. In order to make the sandbox convenient, I could not restrict it as I would have liked to.

I like to allow as few programs as possible to run but in this sandbox I couldn't set it up that way. Kingston would run fine in a Start Run restricted sandbox but the sandbox would not delete automatically. So, in order to get my Kingston sandbox to delete on closing, I had to allow all programs to run in the sandbox.To me, that made things kind of uncomfortable.

Also, Kingston is always trying to connect to the internet. I was able to block all programs from having access to the internet but I had to disable the issuing of Sandboxie message 1307. I don't mind disabling some SBIE messages but that's one message that I prefer not to disable.

After setting things up, Kingston worked well under Sandboxie but I was not happy with the workarounds that had to be done in order to set things up. If you haven't noticed any messages or issues when Kingston is running or when its time to delete the sandbox, then its probable that you are not using a restricted sandbox.

Bo

 

@ bo elam

OK I see, I don't think it will become a problem for me, because I don't lock-down all of my sandboxes. BTW, is it true that you can not install Google Chrome inside the sandbox?

 

You can install Chrome in the sandbox. And use it. But I don't know how well the installation would last over time. I mean, Chrome checks for updates automatically, I am not sure if that would work OK having the installation sandboxed.

Bo

 

Well, I have just tried and it can't be done on my system. Chrome is junk anyway, so no problem.

 

I'm just guessing, but I believe by default it tries to install a service and that's why it won't work.

 

I installed Chrome in my W7 before replying to your post. If you like to try it again, make sure not to tick Drop rights or restrict the sandbox, otherwise the program wont install sandboxed.

Until about a year ago, I used to install Dragon temporarily for an specific purpose. After using it, deleted the sandbox right away. So, Chromium type browsers should install sandboxed. Some time ago, I also installed the Chrome version that's like Firefox Nightly. I don't remember the name of that version, maybe Canary, it installed sandboxed just fine too.

Bo

 

Hi Fleischmann, he probably was using a restricted sandbox. And that wont work.

Bo

 

Has anyone got sandboxie to work with Nitro PDF Reader 3 especially to print to PDF files?

 

Nope it's not restricted. I haven't tried Chrome for years, so I wanted to see what all the fuzz was about. But I already know that I will hate it, so why bother. Opera 26 is similar and it sucks also.

 

I have just installed it, and basic functions seem to work. I haven't tested the "print to PDF" function.

 

Pling man, tested Nitro today in XP and W7, in both computers the reader worked well. Setting up the dedicated sandboxed was easy, works nicely as a Forced program. I tested printing in XP, experienced no issue at all. You shouldn't be having any kind of issue.

Are you getting errors? What system are you using?

Sometimes, sandboxes get corrupted. You can try running Nitro in a new sandbox (for testing, keep default settings in place).
Sandbox>Create new sandbox


Bo