Feedback on Sandboxes

Hi, I have been googling but didn't find enough feedback on sandboxes like this:

Code:

http://www.sandboxie.com/

Here you have the definition:

Source:

Code:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_(computer_security)

Do you think they are effective against viruses and spyware? I want to run programs -such as xrumer,not for spam I want to make it clear- that are likely to contain dangerous viruses like Trojan Downloaders or virus that stole personal data from a sandbox in a OS in a virtual machine.Do you think this way I would be pretty safe?
Do you know another sandbox that I can download full version?

Thanks for your feedback!

 

I have been using Sandboxie now for almost a year and love it. I can't imagine surfing the web without it. Although I have an anti-virus and anti-spyware program on my system, I consider Sandboxie my Big Gun when it comes to protection.
Now it appears your intent is to go looking for malware. I don't do that, so I can't speak from personal experience how powerful Sandboxie is at keeping malware confined within your sandbox. But I can tell you that I've read A LOT over all these months from various forums about the extremely strong effectiveness of Sandboxie in trapping malware in the sandbox until deletion time. This thread in particular from Sandboxie's forum is an interesting read: http://sandboxie.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1429

Keep in mind malware will still run in the Sandboxie's defaultbox, although it's trapped and gets easily flushed when you end that sandbox session. Also note that you can make the defaultbox more restrictive by changing its settings. In other words, you can block access to private documents you have on your system, designate IE or Firefox to be the only programs that can access the internet, and/or identify only certain programs to be able to run within the sandbox.

 

Apologies, I hope I'm not inadvertently hijacking the original poster's thread as that is not my intent...

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I am under the impression that Sandboxie only "sandboxes" browser sessions and not the whole computer (such as Returnil or Windows Steady State might -- Returnil comes with a free [Personal] version and Steady State is free). I use Returnil or Steady State to "try out" software in a "safe (virtual)" environment instead of installing/uninstalling onto the "production" machine. As I understand it, they create a complete virtual machine and erase everything when re-booted, for example. There are other [better?] virtual machine programs out there, but I'm not smart enough to have figured them out yet.

 

Hi Goofball (feels funny typing that...I don't mean it as an insult!). Returnil virtualizes one's entire computer, as you state. Sandboxie was originally designed to virtualize one's browser session, but has evolved. Now one can create special sandboxes to test programs in a virtual environment. See this thread: http://sandboxie.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4784

Although I don't use Returnil, both it and Sandboxie are great programs with their respective advantages and disadvantages. Comparing and contrasting some primary functions of each:
1) From what I've read, Returnil is a simple approach (I like that). Sandboxie is also uncomplicated, but perhaps not as simple as Returnil.
2) You can save your test programs in Sandboxie even with a reboot, which, as I understand it, is not something Returnil can accommodate.
3) If a test program requires the installation of a driver, then you can't use Sandboxie whereas you can with Returnil.
4) I've read Sandboxie may be a bit more effective at containing malware than Returnil...although (fortunately) I've never had the occasion to find out through personal experience.

 

Thanks for the clarification (and update) on Sandboxie.

From my limited experience with "sandbox" programs (I'm still intermittently trying them out), I believe Windows Steady State will allow the user to save any changes made while in virtual mode (ie. permanently save changes), unlike Returnil (as you stated). It is also free and reasonably simple to use.

At some point, I'll download Sandboxie and give it a try again.

BTW -- No offense taken... the name was "purposely" chosen to provide some (personal) humor.