QUESTION: How to make any app PORTABLE?

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  1. Posts : 128
    WIN 10
    Thread Starter
       #11

    lx07 said:
    That is not what a portable app is.

    • So with that in mind what do you actually want to achieve?
    • Stop programs writing to the registry at all?
    • Even the current user bit?

    What you could do is run a VM or a whole Windows to Go installation on a USB key but I'm only speculating what you are trying to achieve.


    Thank you, Bree & lx07.

    To answer these questions, I want to refer to a previous post from @bo elam which I have not fully digested.
    (I have added annotations).

    After restudying this post and thread... it appears this is precisly what I'd like to achieve:



    bo elam said:
    Hi Alan, I didn't mean to say use Sandboxing or portable. I use both.


    I run all programs, portable and non portable sandboxed. And to achieve better isolation, I run them in their own sandbox to separate them not only from the system but from other programs as well.Thats what I do with programs I use on a daily basis, I install them and run them sandboxed. Thats the everyday use of Sandboxie.

    What I was trying to bring in is another feature of Sandboxie, installing programs sandboxed. When you install a program sandboxed, the installation sort of works out as portable and is more secure. The installation is redirected to C:\Sandbox\Bo.

    • You use the program for as long as you want and
    • delete the sandbox when you done.
    • No need to uninstall nothing.
    • The type of programs I install sandboxed are the ones I want to use only temporarily, to test, etc.


    The beauty of Sandboxie in my opinion, is that sandboxed programs interact fluently with the non sandboxed environment, the feeling, the usabilty and the experience when you run files and programs sandboxed is basically the same as if you were not running sandboxed.


    The difference is that you are very secure. Programs that run sandboxed (portable, non portable, installed in a sandbox) under SBIE
    • cant modify files or create new files in the system or make changes in the registry or modify other programs.
    • Every modification they make or new files they create, stay in the containing sandbox.
    • The only changes that get out of the sandbox is what you allow. You dont allow nothing, nothing gets out.
    • Sandbox settings allow you to open up the sandbox as much as you want (to a degree), and restrict it even more than how it comes by default.
      • So, you can allow bookmarks and recover files very easily in your browser or create Office files, modify them, whatever you want, it can be done in the sandboxed environment.


    Sounds to me like you like to keep the system clean of leftovers, you ought to take a look at SBIE,
    • keeping the system clean of litter is another benefit of using SBIE.

    I update my portable programs like any other program.
    • Run the installer in the folder of the existing installation.

    Bo

    Also see: #43, #44, #45 |



    I really need to study this out again!

    THX, ~ Alan
    Last edited by ab1kenobee; 16 Aug 2018 at 02:39.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #12

    Hi Alan,

    If you want to run sandboxie then do. You are delegating security though to an unknown (to me) application.

    I run VMs for things that make specific (normally network related) requirements. For example some clients I connect to insist I run Cisco VPN or a specific version of Windows and so I run these machines as a VM.

    You can (I suppose) consider these VMs portable as you could run them equally well on a different host but as it incudes the whole Windows OS it isn't what I'd understand to be a portable app.

    You could also look into running containers (see here : https://social.technet.microsoft.com...beginners.aspx) but personally I found it too complicated to be useful.

    Any program that copies bits of a registry is going to be faking it though - you should IMO run it separately in a VM or (assuming you can figure out how and it is somehow better) in a container.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 128
    WIN 10
    Thread Starter
       #13

    lx07 said:
    Hi Alan,

    If you want to run sandboxie then do.

    I run VMs for things that make specific (normally network related) requirements.

    For example some clients I connect to insist I run Cisco VPN or a specific version of Windows and so I run the machine that connects in a VM.

    You can (I suppose) consider these VMs portable as you could run them equally well on a different host but as it includes the whole Windows OS it isn't what I'd understand to be a portable app.

    You could also look into running containers (see here : https://social.technet.microsoft.com...beginners.aspx) but personally I found it too complicated to be useful.

    Any program that copies bits of a registry is going to be faking it though - you should run it separately on a VM or (assuming you can figure out how and it is somehow better) in a container.

    Howdy, lx07.


    After educating myself a bit... I share your understanding of "portable".


    Based on @bo elam 's post... I went ahead and subscribe to the PAID version of Sandboxie.
    Now I need to STUDY... upgrade my current software PRACTICES... and then IMPLEMENT... and see if I can replicate Bo's success.


    THX much! ~ Alan
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #14

    Don't get stressed about things writing to the registry though. It is just a database. If there is a couple more lines who cares?

    If some app writes "start in top left corner next time" for your user then it will not impact anything unless you run this app again and only be a couple of bytes anyway.

    In olden times (like before 2000) it could get fragmented causing slowdowns and excessive disk usage but I don't think so it is an issue for the last 20 years or so.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 128
    WIN 10
    Thread Starter
       #15

    lx07 said:
    Don't get stressed about things writing to the registry though. It is just a database. If there is a couple more lines who cares?

    If some app writes "start in top left corner next time" for your user then it will not impact anything unless you run this app again and only be a couple of bytes anyway.

    In olden times (like before 2000) it could get fragmented causing slowdowns and excessive disk usage but I don't think so it is an issue for the last 20 years or so.

    On this new notebook... I am a total GEEK in regards to MAINTENANCE... and for me it makes a measurable and subjective difference in PERFORMANCE and long-term RELIABILITY. LOL!


    THX! ~ Alan
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 655
    Windows 10 Home
       #16

    ab1kenobee said:

    To answer these questions, I want to refer to a previous post from @bo elam which I have not fully digested.
    (I have added annotations).

    After restudying this post and thread... it appears this is precisly what I'd like to achieve:
    Hi Alan, when I read this thread yesterday I thought Sandboxie is the perfect fit for you. But didn't say nothing as we had talked about it before and didnt want to push it. But since now you realized that on your own, lets talk Sandboxie. I love talking SBIE, we can do it here or at the SBIE forum.

    On the posts I wrote in the Libre/portable thread I wrote a lot of details and was very specific but really, the best way to use Sandboxie, is to keep things simple. And try using programs you run sandboxed as you use them when not running sandboxed. Keeping this 2 things in mind will help you enjoy SBIE better. Theres so much you can do with SBIE, that sometimes you ll come up with something, and then do it, and you ll go WOW when you realize you are able to use SBIE for that, amazing.

    Yesterday you were talking about access to the Registry, this is how Sandboxie handle the registry.
    Sandboxie - Sandbox Hierarchy

    Bo
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 655
    Windows 10 Home
       #17

    ab1kenobee said:

    Based on @bo elam 's post... I went ahead and subscribe to the PAID version of Sandboxie.
    Now I need to STUDY... upgrade my current software PRACTICES... and then IMPLEMENT... and see if I can replicate Bo's success.
    Congratulations, Allan. You did good for yourself. Like I said, keep it simple, and learn as you go. I have been using SBIE for almost 10 years, I am still learning and enjoy using the program now as I did when I discovered it. This program does what is supposed to do (keep programs that run under Sandboxies supervision from making permanent changes to the file system, the registry and other programs). In all the years I used Sandboxie, I never seen anything that proves otherwise.

    Bo
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 655
    Windows 10 Home
       #18

    lx07 said:
    If you want to run sandboxie then do. You are delegating security though to an unknown (to me) application.
    Hi lx07, Sandboxie is not popular like antiviruses but has been around since 2004. So, its not really an unknown application. Most antiviruses wont flag it as unknown. Sandboxie can be used in many ways. Personally, my main purpose for using it is to keep my computer intact, locked down (few changes). Is for an small segment of the market. For most users, once you test Sandboxie, you are hooked, is an addictive program.

    Check this podcast by Steve Gibson and Leo from Security now, at minute 33:50 they interview Ronen Tzur (Tzuk), the original developer of SBIE. The interview was done in 2008 but is as good now as when it came out. Alan, listen to it. To us who have been around SBIE since the early days, Tzuk is our hero. In the interview he talks about the motivations to create Sandboxie.
    http://twit.cachefly.net/audio/sn/sn0172/sn0172.mp3

    Bo
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #19

    bo elam said:
    Hi lx07, Sandboxie is not popular like antiviruses but has been around since 2004. So, its not really an unknown application.
    I only meant it is unknown to me - not that it was bad or anything - I've just never tried it.

    Perhaps I will - I usually try thing people are enthusiastic about :)
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 655
    Windows 10 Home
       #20

    lx07 said:
    I only meant it is unknown to me - not that it was bad or anything - I've just never tried it.

    Perhaps I will - I usually try thing people are enthusiastic about :)
    Hi lx07, I know you meant nothing bad. I replied to your post as I wanted make you aware that even though Sandboxie is not well know by the masses, it is top notch security and is a mature program. If you search the internet, you wont find any real world (Sandboxies) sandbox escapes. None, you ll find POCs and lab tests but nothing about malware in the wild that has escaped out of the sandbox.

    About trying Sandboxie. Try it. There is a free version. Everything that can be done in the paid version can be done with the free version. The main difference is that with the paid version, sandboxing becomes automatic, no thinking required to sandbox programs and files but security is the same.

    Bo
      My Computer


 

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