WebUser – 04 April 2018

Free sandboxtools

Discusssandboxingtoolsatforum.webuser.co.uk 4-17April 2018^49

What weliked:
Shadedoesmuchthe
samethingasSandboxie
butonasimplerscale.
Onceinstalled,it’s very
easytouse–justdrag
programshortcutsintothe
Shadewindoworright-click
andselect‘PutintoShade’.Shadelacks
someofSandboxie’sadvancedfeatures
andcustomisability,butwhere
Sandboxiecanonlyforcespecific
programstoruninasandboxifyou
payforthepremiumversion,Shade
remembersanyapplicationyou’ve
sandboxedandwill runit inasandbox
everytime,unlessyouexplicitlytell
it notto(byclicking‘Removean
applicationfromShade’). Thisisvery
usefulif youhaveprograms–suchas
older, unsupportedtools–thatyou
alwayswanttoruninisolation.

Howitcanbeimproved:
UsersonolderPCsmaynoticesome
slowdownwhensandboxingcertain
programs.Notall programsworkwell
withShade,either.InternetExplorer,
inparticular,slowedourtestsystem

What weliked:
Technicallyspeaking,
VirtualBoxisa
virtualisationtool, not
asandboxingone.The
ideaisthatyoucreatea
virtualPC–anentirepretend
computerthatrunswithinyour
realone.Toallintentsandpurposes,
yourvirtualcomputerworksexactlylike
anormalone,exceptthatyoucaninstall
andrunanyprogramsyoulikeonit and
they’llremaincompletelyisolatedfrom
yourreal-lifePCandyourfiles.
VirtualBoxcanvirtualiseolder
versionsofWindows,suchasXP,soit’s
idealforkeepingolderprograms
running.YoucanalsotakeSnapshots,
allowingyoutorevertyourvirtualPC
toapreviousstatewithinafewclicks.

Howitcanbeimproved:
VirtualBoxcanseemalittleunfriendly
atfirst,butit’seasytouseonceyou’ve
setupyourvirtualPC.Ifthere’sone
drawbackwithVirtualBox(andsimilar
tools),it’sthatyou’llneedanentirecopy
oftheoperatingsystemyouwantto

run.That’sokayifyouhappentohave

asparecopyofWindowshanging

around(alongwithavalidproduct

code). If youhaven’t, thenthecostof

buyinganewone(currentlyaround£ 80

onAmazon)canmakevirtualisation

alessattractiveroute.

rightdownwhenweranitinasandbox.

Althoughit’s free,Shadesuffersfrom

asomewhatconvolutedinstallation

processthatrequiresyoutoobtain

alicencekeyviaemail.It’sabit ofafaff,

butyouonlyneedtodoitonce.

OURVERDICT

It’s basic compared with Sandboxie

and seems to suffer from afew

performanceissues but, forthe

mostpart, Shade Sandboxprovides

an easyway to isolate programs

youuse frequently.

OURVERDICT

VirtualBoxprovides abrilliant

alternativetostraightforward

sandboxing, especiallyif you

happento have asparecopyof

Windows youcan install. It’s great

forkeeping XP-eratools going

beyond their sell-bydate.

ComodoFreeFirewallor

ComodoAntivirus

http://www.comodo.comand

antivirus.comodo.com

Normally,we’dtakeissuewiththe

amountofbloatthatcomeswith

Comodo’s

freesecurity

tools,butwe’ll

admitthatits

inclusionofa

sandboxing

toolisactually

ratheruseful.

It comesas

partofboth

ComodoFreeFirewall andComodo

Antivirus.Right-clickanyprogram

fileorshortcutandselect‘Runin

ComodoContainer’tosandboxit,

buttakecaretodeselectthemany

unwantedpermissionsand

componentsComodoattemptsto

foistonyouduringinstallation.

ToolWizTimeFreeze

bit.ly/timefreeze446

TimeFreezeusesaclevertypeof

virtualisationtosandboxyourentire

PC.Whenever

youenable

Freezemode,

it takesa

snapshotof

yourPC.You

canthen

installanysoftware,runany

programormakeanychangesto

yoursystem–everythingwillbe

discardedwhenyounextrestart

yourPC.Onthedownside,areboot

isrequiredeverytimeyouswitch

Freezemodeoff.

Turbo.net

turbo.net

Thistooltakesacompletely

differentapproach,inthatithasa

bunchofprogramsalreadystored

inthecloud–includingChrome,

Firefox,mediaplayersandmore.

Signupfora

freeaccount,

installthe

desktop

launcherand

youcanrun

anyofthese

programsina

virtualisedsandboxonyourPC.

Withapaid-foraccount(£21per

month), youcanrunprogramsin

thecloud–whichisevensafer!

BESTOF THEREST

Wh

ea

pro

Wh

id

vir

ShadeSandbox|www.shadesandbox.com|★★★★★★★★★

FEATURES★★★★★★★★ PERFORMANCE★★★★★★★★ EASEOFUSE★★★★★★★★★

VirtualBox|bit.ly/virtualbox446|★★★★★★★★★

FEATURES★★★★★★★★★ PERFORMANCE★★★★★★★★★ EASEOFUSE★★★★★★★