Windows Sandbox
September 8th, 2006
Sandboxie is an interesting program for Windows which allows you to run programs in a sandbox. Why it is called Sandboxie is beyond me but I presume it’s because IE is so insecure that the chances are most people will be using it with IE 
Sandboxie works in a similar way to VMWare - it stops the program from damaging the system by allowing read operations to work as normal (allowing preferences, etc. to load) but intercepting the write operations so the program can’t modify the registry or contents of hard drive files.
The Sandboxie website has a fuller explanation with diagram and all. It suggests that you could use the program whilst browsing the web as it’ll stop browser hijacking, spyware installation, etc. You could also use it to test programs:
You could also try a new toolbar add-on, browser extension or just about any kind of software. If you don’t like it, you throw away the sandbox, and start again with a fresh sandbox. On the other hand, if you do like the new piece of software, you can re-install it outside the sandbox so it becomes a permanent part of your system.
It’s an interesting idea and it’s a lot cheaper than using a VMWare Virtual Machine (you’ll need an additional Windows license for VMWare). Sandboxie is also a much lighter solution and is more convenient. I haven’t tried the program myself so I don’t know how well it works but it’s certainly worth a try. Still, I wouldn’t recommend catching spyware/viruses even if you are running the program in the sandbox.
- Windows
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My guess is it started off life working just for IE, and then gradually moved to any program.
Looks very useful - good find.
The last “Security Now” podcast from September 1st (see the twit.tv site for more information) details sandboxie as an application related technology that allows people to start up sandboxie, use internet browser and then close it when finished as a way of keeping your browsing habits private. This, however, is not a virtualization technology as it could fall pray to anything that is currently infecting an OS.
Originally it was created for Internet Explorer for obvious reasons, but now supports Firefox as well. Next weeks security now will go back and detail a couple of other “virtualization” and “sandboxing” technologies.
I think sandboxie is just a diminutive for sandbox, sandbox-ie, like cook-ie, dadd-y, mumm-y…