Does anybody use Sandboxie?

Sandboxie - Sandbox software for application isolation and secure Web browsing

Does anybody use Sandboxie? Does it increase web browsing safety? I saw that you could install applications in the Sandboxie. I read about this in the ISSA a magazine, and it look very interesting, but the article itself was highly technical. I’m just wondering if anyone uses this, and if it’s similar to GOOGLE Chrome’s sandboxed environment?

Also, can you use sandboxie in your personal environment, or is it used more as a Malware analysis tool?

Also, I was wondering in what ways do people use Sandboxie? I did look on the website, but it doesn’t provide a lot of info, and I think the author expects you to know what you are doing.

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Comments

Mike Honeycutt

Sandboxie cannot be virus proof but after two years of daily use,
I've yet to get a virus and will not surf the web without Sandboxie. In fact,
when I'm teaching classes, I intentional go to websites that infect my
PCs and while it appears my PC has a virus, *everything* disappears
once I exit Sandboxie. I use it with Internet Explorer but it will give
double protection if you use it with Chrome's sandbox feature.

Several things to remember:
1. While I've not found a virus that gets past Sandboxie, you should exit
Sandboxie as soon as you get a virus. You should also tell Sandboxie to
delete the sandbox as soon as you exit. I've seen some people think that
because they are protected inside the sandbox, they can continue to use
the web after an infection (inside the sandbox) occurs. Nothing prevents
a key logger or file-uploading virus from still running inside the sandbox and
while your PC will not be permanently infected, damage could still be done.

2. Where's my download? Sandboxie does a good job of identifying important
files you download from the web (and asking if you want to save them outside
the sandbox) but once every six month, I'm briefly baffled when I can't find
a downloaded file. Sandboxie didn't identify the file as "important" and deleted
it with the other junk files. This is also true for cookies since you'll tell a site
to remember your login information and Sandboxie deletes the cookie.

I do occasionally hit a website that will not work with Sandboxie but if you
have a PC, you *must* try Sandboxie.

Just a satisfied customer - not connected to the company.

Mike Honeycutt

astrogeek

I'm sure others will probably be able to explain this better than I can, but it basically opens your web browser, (or whatever application you want to use with it), into a virtual space. So for example, say you go to a website that has a drive by virus, in theory it shouldn't infect your system because your browser is separate from system. It's sort of a less complicated way of running a virtual system, because instead of creating an entire virtual system for web browsing you can just create temporary virtual "boxes" for your web browser.

I just use it as an added level of protection for web browsing. It's free but after 30 days you'll get an annoying nagging "buy me" reminder for 5 seconds, it's definitely worth trying out though, if not buying.

SteveO86

I have a co-worker that has used this for years on his personal PC. He put his web browsers in there so when his kids go surfing he doesn't have to worry about the crap they might pick up. So far he hasn't picked up a virus.

Qord

I've been using Sandboxie for years. Any time I run a program for the first time, I run it in a sandbox just to make sure there's nothing "funny" about it. In a way, it operates like a VM without the overhead of another OS. It allows you to segregate a program so it doesn't affect any part of your main OS.

Coolhandluke

I run sandboxie all the time, usually when I'm going to websites that I suspect may contain malicious material. No virus protection is 100% but this adds an extra dimension to being "infected" by something. I highly recommend it to anyone.

yuddhidhtir

Apart from sandboxie is there any other freeware?