Sandboxie-does anyone use it and how secure?

justaquestion

Hi folks,


I have installed sandboxie on one of my computers and have a basic understanding on how to use it, but not totally sure as to the amount of security it can offer, so a few questions if anyone knows.


1 I know that it creates a sandbox folder on my c drive, so if I enter sadbox mode, if I download a file to my downloads folder on my desktop, is it still protected by the sandbox on my c drive, until such times as I choose to recover it to the normal computing environment?


2 As regards security even say if I was to go to a comprised site with malware embedded in it, with sandbox enabled will any malware infection just be in the sandbox and won't spread to the normal windows environment, not that I want to do that, just curious about how secure sandboxie is?


3 As to actuall using sandbox (enabled) if I download a file I can just download it to my usual download folder on desktop, scan with usual antivirus (avast) if avast detects a virus, and puts it into quarantine then, is that quarantine still part of the sandboxie process?


4 overall for anyone who uses Sandboxie, what is your overall impression of it.


many thanks for any replies.

NiftyDigits

To answer all of your questions....do all of those things via the Sandboxed Web Browser.
If you want to study any content before Recovery, right click on the SandBoxie tray icon, hover over Default Box and choose your option.

It's fine.

esuhl

justaquestion wrote: »

1 I know that it creates a sandbox folder on my c drive, so if I enter sadbox mode, if I download a file to my downloads folder on my desktop, is it still protected by the sandbox on my c drive, until such times as I choose to recover it to the normal computing environment?

That's right. IIRC, once the download completes you're asked whether you want to leave the file in the sandbox, or move it to your "real" download folder.

justaquestion wrote: »

2 As regards security even say if I was to go to a comprised site with malware embedded in it, with sandbox enabled will any malware infection just be in the sandbox and won't spread to the normal windows environment, not that I want to do that, just curious about how secure sandboxie is?

Right again -- the malware only changes files in the sandbox. Close the brower, and delete the contents of the sandbox, and it's as if the malware was never on your system. You could even leave the malware in the sandbox, and use your unsandboxed browser, which (as with everything else on your PC) will be malware-free: the malware only exists in sandbox.

In terms of security, Sanboxie seems brilliant. I think a lot more people should use it -- especially anyone still running Windows XP!

justaquestion wrote: »

3 As to actuall using sandbox (enabled) if I download a file I can just download it to my usual download folder on desktop, scan with usual antivirus (avast) if avast detects a virus, and puts it into quarantine then, is that quarantine still part of the sandboxie process?

Uhhh... good question! The Sandbox contents are stored as normal folders. So if you download a file in a sandboxed browser to "C:\MyStuff", Sandboxie will (by default) save it to C:\Sandbox\%USER%\%SANDBOX%\drive\C\MyStuff. So your antivirus should detect it normally.

justaquestion wrote: »

4 overall for anyone who uses Sandboxie, what is your overall impression of it.

It's pretty impressive and easy to use. Some complex installers don't work when sandboxed, but otherwise it's a great way to browse safely and test the odd program without messing with your system.

mart44

I have used Sandboxie for about nine years and it has the benefits already described.

If using Sandboxie, it is perhaps best to class that as the primary defence and base other layers of security around it. The reason being that Sandboxie has known conflicts with some security and other programs. A full list here:

http://www.sandboxie.com/?KnownConflicts

It may be that Sandboxie has been updated to cope with some of these and if in doubt, the Sandboxie forum is a good place to ask questions.

http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/

Sandboxie can sometimes break with browser or other program updates but the developers are usually quick to issue fixes when problems arise.

Edit: Another Sandboxie page worth a read:

http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=21539