New
#31
Hi Again Bo:
I have a question. My documents are fairly well organzied (similar to a filing cabinet). However, as I go through years of documents by searching for things like social security numbers, drivers license numbers, date of birth, etc. for myself & family, I find that I have them scattered all over the place. (I have separate folders for each family member)
So I'm wondering. If I ever get a virus or trojan (which, so far, I've never had on my personal computer, as I'm extremely careful what I download), Sandboxie won't help once it's on my computer. As I understand Sandboxie, I can block access to all my documents, which would prevent any possibility of a virus or program from uploading any documents. To allow an upload, I could copy such a file to my desktop or other folder that wasn't blocked, & attach or upload from there. I would have to do that with Windows File Explorer that was not Sandboxed.
I seem to recall that you said in an earlier post, that you run File Explorer within Sandboxie, something that I rarely do.
Do you think it would be easier for me just to restrict all access to my Documents folder (to prevent uploads) & just use the method you described (copy & paste outside of Sandboxie) when I want to upload, rather than hunt down all my personal information?
(By the way, I did discover that I could move all personal info to one folder & leave shortcuts to those documents in their original folders. That way, I would still be able to find all my documents where I would expect them, but not be able to access them with a Sandboxed File Explorer, even by clicking a shortcut in a folder that wasn't restricted.)
Thanks again for all the advice!
Yes, do it using an unsandboxed File Explorer.
Opening files via a sandboxed File Explorer is the most secure way to run files with Sandboxie. So, I use a sandboxed version of File Explorer to open files that I am not 100% sure what type of file they are. This happens rarely, but it happens sometimes. Also, some programs can not be forced to run sandboxed, like Windows photo viewer, so if you make this type of programs your default programs, pictures in the case of WPV will not run sandboxed automatically when they are executed. They won't run sandboxed out of a Forced folder either. So, the way to run this type of programs and their files sandboxed is to navigate to the pictures (this is what you would do for WPV) using a sandboxed explorer and click on them. And they will run sandboxed. This is because anything you execute via a sandboxed Explorer, not matter what it is, will run sandboxed every time.
Years ago, there were other programs in the same situation, I remember Windows media player couldn't be forced either. Now you can. The glitch with WMP and WPV had to do with this two programs having close ties to Window itself. The easy solution used to be to set something else as default for pictures and videos. Personally, I prefer WPV to anything else, so I don't care that I cant force it (also, there is no exe for WPV to Force, and you cant force dllhost which is what WPV uses for pictures), so this is why sometimes a sandboxed explorer can be useful. You can also use one to test changes in your system.
I am going to give you an example. About a year or year and a half ago, Mozilla changed the way to disable Multiprocess in Firefox. As time goes on, they are making this process more difficult. Now, to disable MP, you have to create a System variable. I didn't know what a System variable was, or what it did. So, I created one designed to disable MP while using a sandboxed File explorer. And ran Firefox in the same sandbox, and saw that it worked. It disabled Multiprocess, and everything seemed OK. After that, I deleted the sandbox, and created the System variable in the real system. There are many reasons for using a sandboxed explorer.
But keep this in mind. File Explorer should not be forced. It can be run sandboxed but it can not be forced. If you try to force it, Sandboxie gives a message with a warning. You can run it using the shortcuts in the menus, or by right clicking a folder and choosing to run it sandboxed or create a sandboxed shortcut. The latter is the easy way. You create the shortcut and place it in your desktop, taskbar (that's were I have it) or the Start menu.
Sounds perfect.
For the occasions you need to upload, you could also set it like this. Have an extra sandbox setup without this restrictions. So, when you want to upload something, you open a fresh browsing session using this sandbox, do the upload, and when you finish, you get out and delete the sandbox. And then go back to using your more restricted sandbox.
Bo
Hi @bo elam:
I'm using Sandboxie 5.49.0 (64-bit). I was notified today that Sandboxie-Plus-x64-v0.8.2.exe & Sandboxie-Classic-x64-v5.50.2.exe were out. However, when I went to the thread at Sandboxie Plus 0.8.5 | Wilders Security Forums, which said that Sandboxie Plus 0.8.5 was out, so I'm somewhat confused.
I'm wondering what version you're using, since you're very knowledgeable about Sandboxie & whether you've tried Sandboxie Plus.
Hi phrab. Regarding what Plus version is the latest, perhaps get in the habit of using the link below as it can make things simple for you. Quickly, by looking at the versions numbers in the threads there you ll figure out which Plus version is the latest.
Sandboxie (SBIE Open Source) Plus & Classic | Wilders Security Forums
Regarding what Sandboxie version I am using, I am using 5.33.6 and haven't tried Plus.
Sorry it took a while to answer your questions. Best regards.
Bo