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better than using an unistaller? Altiris SVS

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mouser:
sounds ideal if it works - i'd like to hear more about people's experiences with it and does it reall isolate a program from doing damage.

Carol Haynes:
I am experimenting with Sandboxie and I must say I am finding it a bit flaky - maybe it is my system but I can't even get it to run Internet Explorer. Some programs seem to work fine but I haven't tried installing a program in there.

Trouble is I am not sure how it works. DOes it actually write to disk in the normal way (including the registry) and keep a record so that it can delete it or is it more clever than that? If it is just doing this then I can see all sorts of problems arising if you have any programs running at the same time outside sandboxie that could potentially access the same files and registry settings.

Darwin:
Hi Carol,

Sandboxie sets up a folder under your user account (default is c:\programs and settings\username\application data\sandboxie). ANYTHING that is written to disk, either by a sandboxed application or by a process/application launched by that sandboxed app (this extends to opening Windows Explorer, launching WMP, etc.), is written to that folder. How this works is that your system's folder structure is replicated within the sandbox (that folder). The programme also creates a virtual registry within the sandbox to which all changes to your registry are written. Once you're done surfing the net or testing an application or opening a file with a sandboxed copy of word, you simply empty the sandbox and your system has not been altered in any way. I'm running XP Sp-2 and this works brilliantly for me - no trouble so far. It's in ongoing development and has an active forum on which bugs and requests are discussed extensively. The author (tzuk) is an active participant and responds to criticisms/problems/requests well (i.e. doesn't get in a strop about it!). The problems that I have had with it relate to past versions not running maxthon properly (fixed in 2.3.1) and in having sandboxed apps still running when I try to empty the sandbox. There's no real problem with this as the context menu includes the option to "terminate all sandboxed processes"; it's just alarming to see how integrated everything is in windows (ie how many processes are spawned by any given running application)! I haven't experienced any problems running sandboxed and non-sandboxed applications together. The sandbox keeps the apps running within it well quarantined.

As such, the sandboxed folder is a legititimate folder under windows that keeps apps running within it from reaching out and affecting your system. You can, however, explore its contents and move them out of the sandbox AND apps running outside of it can reach into and modify/manipulate/move files there. An example would be an anti-virus or anti-spyware app moving infected files into quarantine or an equivalent...

I'm going to check out some of the other suggestions here over the weekend as I haven't tried any of the alternatives to sandboxie. The attraction of sandboxie is that it is essentially free and in my experience works so I haven't been motivated to look further afield.

Carol Haynes:
I'm not sure if I made a mistake installing 2.3.1 because when I start my computer I get an error saying Sanboxie service isn't running please reinstall. Running Sandboxie again from the desktop icon seems to solve this problem. I can't get Internet Explorer to work at all - not that I want to use IE but given that it is explicitly set up to run IE it doesn't feel good that it is app. that fails to run.

You say that a new folder structures and dummy registry are set up within Sandboxie but how does an application deal with the need for information stored on the hard disc and in the main registry?

I know it is a work in progress and free but I do think some really clear documentation on what is going on should be available as the website and the help info installed with Sandboxie are cursory at best in terms of detail.

Darwin:
Hi Carol,

I'm getting out of my depth here with respect to my knowledge of sandboxie... I can only suggest that you check out the forum with respect to IE problems - haven't experienced that problem myself (what exactly is the problem? IE won't run at all/locks up/won't connect?).

As for your other concern, I can only report that when I open my webbrowser sandboxed, all of the history and settings from my last "open" or "un-sandboxed" session for that browser are available, so it must be going to the permanent installation to retrieve my settings. AFAIK, the registry is replicated in its entirety within the sandbox and then deleted when the sandbox is emptied. The folder structure within the sandbox is created as needed. So, if an app modifies files located under your user directory/application settings that folder is recreated, along with the folder structure that it sits within. Likewise, if modifications are necessary under the program files folder, that file/folder structure is mirrored as well. These changes are also recorded/made in the "virtual" registry that has been created.

I'm not sure if I've addressed/answered your questions or not... I'm not a "power user" of this application, though have successfully used it to surf the web and to test run software installations before "committing" to them...

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