I ran across an interesting free program called Sandboxie last week.

Sandboxie sets up a sand box to compartmentalize any software you wish so that it cannot trash your operating system with viruses etc. All registry changes as well as any files that are created with a sandboxed application are made in a special area that is essentially undoable.

As a side benefit, one can install any software they like that say, has a 30 day trial limit, and then when the trial period expires, all traces of it can be deleted allowing you to reinstall the trial software again thereby extending the trial period.

Programs like Cambam, NCplot pro, etc come to mind...

With Sandboxie, you can safely install and test any software you like and not worry about it harming your computer if it contains malware, etc.

Any files created by sandboxed software also becomes sandboxed and are stored in separate file location, so if you use any sandboxed software that creates a file you wish to keep, you do need to move it from the sandbox to another folder.

Use it to open a web browser and it protects you from all sorts of malicious activity. Same goes for your email. No more worry about opening an email that contains a trojan horse or virus.

http://www.sandboxie.com/

 

Being the new guy on the block, I thought twice about saying this, but had to anyway.

You have no problem in stealing software?

 

I think it is a valid question. I don't see why being a newcomer changes that. I give away a lot of code here and enjoy doing it but I also make a living selling my software.

I don't think the intention was for everyone to trial a bunch of software forever but that is a side effect of applications like this. If you guys really want a setup for "testing" install some flavor of vmware (there are a lot of free versions from Server to ESX) or virtualbox. Install a clean OS in the virtual machine and take a snapshot. Now you can reload that snapshot at any time or change the system clock without modifying the host machine.

 

I have as many problems stealing software as the software companies do, selling crappy software and my email address to every junk-peddler out there. :x

 

My software company tries not to peddle crappy software and I have never sold or spammed an e-mail address archived in my database. Right now I have 49,352 verified e-mail addresses of clients or prospective clients that provided their address to me. I hope you don't feel the same about all of us.

Honestly, I really don't care if someone pirates my commercial apps. As long as the user (or perpetual tester) doesn't feel like they are cheating us I don't think I have been cheated. Most of the pirates would have never purchased the software anyway and it may provide some word of mouth.

This thread has been derailed enough, sorry Flash.

 

I realized that the discussion would probably wind up being about ethics, but that's between you and your conscious. I thought the software was worthy of mention for those who are not puritans. For those of you who are, forget using this and get your credit card out and pay for everything you download. And don't forget to open every email attachment that comes your way too.

For the record, I am a programmer as well. There are other ways to protect your software if that is your intention.

How you use the sandbox or VMware or Virtual PC or other similar application is your business.

And yes, I buy a s***load of software, most of only to become obsolete 1 year later when a new version comes out so my conscious is clear.

 

I finally tried this program and it actually works very well. And such a tiny size. Initially it didn't work (error message) and I didn't bother to mess with it, yesterday. But after I turned on the computer this morning (reboot), it's a working. It's actually a pretty amazing program! Great find :!:

-Kwok

 

Yep, I am impressed by it. I paid for my version and it was money well spent.

I had one program that would not work with it and I used the forum to post my issue and it was solved within a day.

There are a lot of options available in the sandbox settings that let you control many facets of its operation.

I have all my family members using it too. I had to find and repair a virus in my daughters work computer because her IT department could not find it and she had financial documents from her mortage business that was critical. After getting it fixed, I installed Sandboxie on it. She now browses the Internet within the sandbox so that problems like this won't happen again. McAfee did not detect the virus, but by having everything sandboxed, it is now a simple matter to undo any damage that occurs as a result of visiting malicious websites.