discussion Sandboxie Plus and VirusTotal: run any game or software isolated from Windows and the internet. Avoid getting infected by viruses and spyware.

[Dafuking]

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I use Sandboxie Plus to run any software/games from sources I don't trust isolated from Windows and the Internet (like pirated and free games / apps from unknown developers).
And it's lightweight. It consumes very few resources.

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Description:​

Sandboxie is a sandbox-based isolation software for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows NT-based operating systems. It creates a sandbox-like isolated operating environment in which applications can be run or installed without permanently modifying local & mapped drives or the Windows registry. An isolated virtual environment allows controlled testing of untrusted programs and web surfing.

Sandboxie allows you to create virtually unlimited sandboxes and run them alone or simultaneously to isolate programs from the host and each other, while also allowing you to run as many programs simultaneously in a single box as you wish.

Spoiler: Features:

Features​

Sandboxie is available in two editions, Plus and Classic. They both share the same core components, this means they have the same level of security and compatibility. What's different is the availability of features in the user interface.

Sandboxie Plus has a modern Qt-based UI, which supports all new features that have been added since the project went open source:

• Snapshot Manager - takes a copy of any box in order to be restored when needed
• Maintenance mode - allows to uninstall/install/start/stop Sandboxie driver and service when needed
• Portable mode - you can run the installer and choose to extract all files to a directory
• Additional UI options to block access to Windows components like printer spooler and clipboard
• More customization options for Start/Run and Internet access restrictions
• Privacy mode sandboxes that protect user data from illegitimate access
• Security enhanced sandboxes that restrict the availability of syscalls and endpoints
• Global hotkeys to suspend or terminate all boxed processes
• A network firewall per sandbox which supports Windows Filtering Platform (WFP)
• The list of sandboxes can be searched with the shortcut key Ctrl+F
• A search function for Global Settings and Sandbox Options
• Ability to import/export sandboxes to and from 7z files
• Integration of sandboxes into the Windows Start menu
• A browser compatibility wizard to create templates for unsupported browsers
• Vintage View mode to reproduce the graphical appearance of Sandboxie Control
• A troubleshooting wizard to assist users with their problems
• An Add-on manager to extend or add functionality via additional components
• Protections of sandboxes against the host, including the prevention of taking screenshots
• A trigger system to perform actions, when a sandbox goes through different stages, like initialization, box start, termination or file recovery
• Make a process not sandboxed, but its child processes sandboxed

What you can do:​

• You can install and run any game or software inside a Sandboxie sandbox using right click / run isolated on a Sandbox. (e.g: Any pirated 3D AAA games and cracked sofware, or lewd games)
• I have Sandboxie controlled Box and folders where I unzip/install any software or game. Then I double click/execute the game inside that windows folder and it automatically opens inside a sandbox, completely isolated from the SO and Internet (if you choose to do so. It can access to internet adding it to a whitelist or using a global setting for that sandbox folder).
• Run multiple instances of the same software with multiple accounts (like multiple Steam accounts, as in the screenshot.)
• Browse the web. I run a chromium browser (with sandbox) inside a Sandboxie sandbox. So if there is a virus using a zero-day bug on a web site that escalates privileges and bypasses the chromium sandbox, it would also have to bypass the sandboxie sandbox. Difficult, but not impossible.

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(official site)

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It scans for virus using 74+ antivirus and 6 automated sandboxes to analyse software behaviour.






Inspired by these two threads:
Virus Warning
VM for running adult games

 

[NateDawg59]

Unusual to see an ad for software in a porn game forum, lol. At least the software is legit provided you get it from the developers' website itself.

 

[bulliedhealer]

How does this affect performance? I imagine there must be some resource utilization overhead with this.

 

[NateDawg59]

How does this affect performance? I imagine there must be some resource utilization overhead with this.

I have to be honest and say I haven't run it for some time. The software was originally just called SandboxIE, and a few years back it was forked into I believe two different versions. When I did run it, I did not notice any heavy resource usage at all. It wasn't any heavier than your normal sandboxed processes like you see in current Chrome and Firefox browsers.

Edit: Here is the link and support thread for the current version:

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.

The dev uses Wilders as the main way of keeping up to date with users.

 

[bulliedhealer]

I have to be honest and say I haven't run it for some time. The software was originally just called SandboxIE, and a few years back it was forked into I believe two different versions. When I did run it, I did not notice any heavy resource usage at all. It wasn't any heavier than your normal sandboxed processes like you see in current Chrome and Firefox browsers.

Thank you, I appreciate that. I will have to give it a try for lewd gaming on windows!

 

[NateDawg59]

Thank you, I appreciate that. I will have to give it a try for lewd gaming on windows!

When I used it, very little would get past it. Just don't expect to intentionally run bad things or do stupid stuff. Nothing is 100% foolproof.

 

[bulliedhealer]

When I used it, very little would get past it. Just don't expect to intentionally run bad things or do stupid stuff. Nothing is 100% foolproof.

Definitely not. I'm in a line of work where I definitely know better. I'll just be using it on lewd games that may or may not be sus on windows.

 

[Dafuking]

Unusual to see an ad for software in a porn game forum, lol. At least the software is legit provided you get it from the developers' website itself.

It is a safety practices recommendation for those who, like me, open a lot of executables on Windows from untrusted sources, not an AD.

You shouldn't trust any .exe coming from any developers/forums.

It's Open source software, and there's a link to github and to the official download page.

 

[NateDawg59]

That's pretty much what it was originally intended for, running programs before they hit the hard disk to see if any unwanted presents got unwrapped during install. I recall running some crazy stuff during my time as a malware tester and an old "HijackThis" log analyzer. Not too many years ago, having Sandboxie and NoScript alone was a hell of a defense against bad stuff. Add in a well-configured firewall and you really had to try to get infected.

 

[NateDawg59]

It is a safety practices recommendation for those who, like me, open a lot of executables on Windows from untrusted sources, not an AD.

You shouldn't trust any .exe coming from any developers/forums.

It's Open source software, and there's a link to github and to the official download page.

I trust nothing. And as far as the link I provided, the people at Wilders would catch any shenanigans in a heartbeat. Still, even they would tell you triple check anything you download no matter where you get it.

 

[Dafuking]

Definitely not. I'm in a line of work where I definitely know better. I'll just be using it on lewd games that may or may not be sus on windows.

I prefer it to a VM because it is faster and easier to use. I scan it with VirusTotal beforehand. For really suspicious things that I want to open I use a VM.

 

[NateDawg59]

A VM is great for testing an OS, but that's about all I use it for. I've seen things get past them too, of course I'm not talking about normal malware.

 

[Dafuking]

A VM is great for testing an OS, but that's about all I use it for. I've seen things get past them too, of course I'm not talking about normal malware.

Well, in that case we are screwed . I believe that such sophisticated and expensive malware will be used against large companies or states, I don't think they will waste it on a forum like this.


Anyway, I have a foolproof trick against this attack:

 

[NateDawg59]

State-sponsored malware is what I was referring to, and I can count on one hand the times I saw it done. Unfortunately, it isn't near as expensive to do as it was in the early-mid 2000s. And AI is just going to make it worse. However, us "plebs" have to worry more about the social-engineered junk than we do anything else.

 

[longgoneguy46]

I prefer it to a VM because it is faster and easier to use. I scan it with VirusTotal beforehand. For really suspicious things that I want to open I use a VM.

a vm is obviously the answer for pirated software, you can just delete it and done. me too using hyper-v to test some pirated software. but unfortunately, my laptop doesn't have dedicated gpu, so for games like iv av! i use windows sandbox instead.

 

[longgoneguy46]

I prefer it to a VM because it is faster and easier to use. I scan it with VirusTotal beforehand. For really suspicious things that I want to open I use a VM.

a vm is obviously the answer for pirated software, you can just delete it and done. me too using hyper-v to test some pirated software. but unfortunately, my laptop doesn't have dedicated gpu, so for games like iv av! i use windows sandbox instead.

 

[Naugus]

I'm not gonna trust an ad in a porn forum! I'll get my malware packaged with pictures of tiddies like a true red-blooded American, thank-you-very-much!

 

[Lensk]

This is a good software, however, it does prompt you quite frequently to purchase the full version. i will also mention that some, but not all, Unity games - specifically from Japanese creators, will not work in sandboxie, either crashing or not displaying certain assets. i am unsure why, the issue seems specific on a factor not yet determined by anyone, as two people running the same OS using sandboxie can have different results. This issue has been minimally discussed on their GitHub page. There are other games (also typically Unity) that will not work in sandboxie unless they have an internet connection, but, if you route them through the built in "Windows Filtering Platform" option in the Sandboxie box Network Options, then they will work, so it is worth trying that, i think something to do with the connection needing to be dropped, not blocked maybe. A tutorial for this can be found with some googling, it is not hard to set up.

worth mentioning that the default settings on the free version are not very "hardened", you will have to configure the "Box" you create with the options you are given to ensure you are not victim of a malicious file, even if launched within the Box.

last thing is that just because a game is launched in Sandboxie and displays no suspicious behavior, it does not mean it is safe. some games, as seen on other sites, have conditions to launch their malicious payloads only after a certain date and time.

There is a much bigger discussion about this very software on f95, made much more active after the many malicious games that were uploaded there last year. to clarify for the rules of this domain though that I am not advertising or encouraging you to go there, just making you aware of the threads existence on it.

Other than these minor issues, it is a good program.