Sandboxie

Sandboxie was initially released in 2004 as a tool for sandboxing Internet Explorer. Over time, the program was expanded to support other web browsers and eventually, arbitrary apps.{{cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/sophos-open-sources-sandboxie-a-utility-for-sandboxing-any-application/|title=Sophos open-sources Sandboxie, a utility for sandboxing any application|publisher=ZDNet|date=2019-09-12|accessdate=2019-09-16}}

In December 2013, Invincea announced the acquisition of Sandboxie.{{cite web|url=http://www.invincea.com/2013/12/invinceas-expanding-global-community/|title=Invincea's Expanding Global Community|date=2013-12-16|publisher=invincea.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918110432/https://www.invincea.com/2013/12/invinceas-expanding-global-community/|archive-date=2017-09-18|accessdate=2013-12-19|quote=[W]e announced the acquisition of Sandboxie from an earlier transaction in 2013.}} The original developer Ronen Tzur further announced he would no longer be involved with the program.{{cite web| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121092138/https://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=17930| archive-date=2018-11-21| url=https://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=17930|title=Goodbye from tzuk|date=2014-01-22|publisher=sandboxie.com|accessdate=2017-10-20|quote=Today I depart from Sandboxie, as I announced a few weeks ago.}} ^[*]{{cite web| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121092559/https://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=97094#p97094| archive-date=2018-11-21| url=https://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=97094#p97094|title=Questions About Invincea Acquiring Sandboxie?|date=2013-12-17|publisher=sandboxie.com|accessdate=2017-10-20|quote=I am happy to pass the torch to the capable hands of Invincea...In about six weeks, I will depart from Sandboxie.}} ^[*]

In February 2017, Sophos announced the acquisition of Invincea.{{cite web|url=https://www.sophos.com/en-us/press-office/press-releases/2017/02/sophos-adds-advanced-machine-learning-to-its-next-generation-endpoint-protection-portfolio.aspx|title=Sophos Adds Advanced Machine Learning to Its Next-Generation Endpoint Protection Portfolio with Acquisition of Invincea|date=2017-02-08|publisher=Sophos|accessdate=2017-02-11}}{{cite web|url=https://blogs.sophos.com/2017/02/08/sophos-grows-anti-malware-ensemble-with-invincea/|title=Sophos grows anti-malware ensemble with Invincea|date=2017-02-08|publisher=Sophos|accessdate=2017-02-11|quote=One may ask, if you already have great next-generation technology, why do you need Invincea’s technology?...Think of Invincea as the superhero that takes our ensemble to the next level – the entity that adds neural network-based machine learning to the team.}}{{cite web|url=https://www.invincea.com/2017/02/sophos-to-acquire-invincea-to-add-industry-leading-machine-learning-to-its-next-generation-endpoint-protection-portfolio/|title=Sophos to Acquire Invincea to Add Industry Leading Machine Learning to its Next Generation Endpoint Protection Portfolio|date=2017-02-08|publisher=Invincea|accessdate=2017-02-11}} Invincea posted an assurance in Sandboxie's website that for the time being Sandboxie's development and support would continue as normal.{{cite web| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415100837/https://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=24008| archive-date=2019-04-15| url=https://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=24008| title=Invincea acquired by Sophos| publisher=sandboxie.com| quote=Many of you are probably wondering, what does this mean for Sandboxie and its users? The answer as of right now, is that nothing is changing. We will continue to operate as we have since Invincea acquired Sandboxie. We have no current plans to discontinue developing Sandboxie updates or supporting it.| date=2017-02-10| accessdate=2017-10-20}} ^[*]

Version 4.02 introduced support for Windows 64-bit{{cite web|title=Sandboxie - Notes About 64-Bit Edition|url=https://www.sandboxie.com/NotesAbout64BitEdition|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020084124/https://www.sandboxie.com/NotesAbout64BitEdition|archive-date=20 October 2017|website=Sandboxie.com|publisher=Sandboxie Holdings}} with the exception of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, which was never supported.{{cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions - What are the requirements to run Sandboxie?|url=https://www.sandboxie.com/FrequentlyAskedQuestions#Requirements|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020135111/https://www.sandboxie.com/FrequentlyAskedQuestions#Requirements|archive-date=20 October 2017|website=Sandboxie.com|publisher=Sandboxie Holdings|quote=Sandboxie does not work on... {{sic|Windows XP x64 bit}}}}

Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista SP2 were supported up to version 5.22, after which their support was dropped.{{cite web| url=https://www.sandboxie.com/FrequentlyAskedQuestions#Requirements| title=Frequently Asked Questions - What are the requirements to run Sandboxie?|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826155039/https://www.sandboxie.com/FrequentlyAskedQuestions#Requirements|archive-date=26 August 2018|website=Sandboxie.com|accessdate=2023-04-09}}{{cite web| url=https://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=25639| title=5.24 doesn't work with Vista 64bits pack 2|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20200510000000/https://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=25639|archive-date=10 May 2020|website=Sandboxie.com|accessdate=2023-04-09}} [https://sandboxie-website-archive.github.io/www.sandboxie.com/old-forums/viewtopic7c917c91.html?p=133003#p133005 Alt URL] In September 2019, Sandboxie version 5.31.4 was released under a freeware license "with plans to transition it to an open source tool". The previous commercial license still applied to customers with active licenses until their license expired.{{cite web|last=Geftic|first=Seth|date=10 September 2019|title=Major Sandboxie News: Sandboxie is now a free tool with plans to transition it to an open source tool|url=https://community.sophos.com/products/sandboxie/f/forum/115109/major-sandboxie-news-sandboxie-is-now-a-free-tool-with-plans-to-transition-it-to-an-open-source-tool|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913181652/https://community.sophos.com/products/sandboxie/f/forum/115109/major-sandboxie-news-sandboxie-is-now-a-free-tool-with-plans-to-transition-it-to-an-open-source-tool|archive-date=13 September 2019|website=community.sophos.com|publisher=Sophos}}

In April 2019, the official site was shut down, preventing downloads, installations and purchases, which prompted the creation of a temporary forum in the company's own domain.{{cite web| url=https://community.sophos.com/products/sandboxie/f/sandboxie-forum/112376/sandboxie-status-update-what-happened-to-the-sandboxie-site-and-forums| title=[Sandboxie Status Update] What happened to the Sandboxie site and forums?| publisher=Sophos| date=2019-09-24| accessdate=2019-05-03| quote=We started experiencing issues with our servers due to a bug that is causing slowness accessing the Sandboxie site, as well as the licensing/activation options. Added to that, we found a security weakness in the software being used for the forums, and out of an abundance of caution, they were taken down for the time being. In order to keep communication going, we have created this temporary forum within our Sophos Community.}}

In May 2019, the official site returned with the original forums permanently shut down in favor of Sophos' own forums, which were later shut down as well.{{cite web| url=https://community.sophos.com/products/sandboxie/b/blog/posts/the-sandboxie-forum-is-now-closed| title=The Sandboxie Forum is now closed| publisher=Sophos| date=2020-06-05| accessdate=2020-06-14}} Between May and September 2019 (when Sandboxie became freeware), the purchase options were still missing.

In response to the announcement of the closure of the Sandboxie website, software developer David Berdik scraped the site's contents and published the archive on GitHub on May 10, 2020.{{cite web| url=https://sandboxie-website-archive.github.io/| title=[Sandboxie Website Archive]| date=2020-09-15| accessdate=2020-09-15}}

In April 2020, Sophos released the source code (as the source code-only version 5.40{{cite web |title=Sandboxie - Download the latest version of Sandboxie |url=https://www.sandboxie.com/DownloadSandboxie |website=www.sandboxie.com |accessdate=May 17, 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423115321/https://www.sandboxie.com/DownloadSandboxie |archivedate=April 23, 2020 |language=en}}) under the GPL 3.0+ license. Sophos stated that they would no longer be involved in the development of Sandboxie and that the open-source community would have to continue development instead.{{cite web| url=https://community.sophos.com/products/sandboxie/f/forum/119641/important-sandboxie-open-source-code-is-available-for-download| title=[IMPORTANT] Sandboxie Open Source Code is available for download| publisher=Sophos| date=2020-04-08| accessdate=2020-04-11 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425220152/https://community.sophos.com/products/sandboxie/f/forum/119641/important-sandboxie-open-source-code-is-available-for-download |archivedate=April 25, 2020 |language=en}}

Sandboxie Plus is a fork of the original open-source code and provides two editions of Sandboxie: Plus and Classic.

Sandboxie Plus has been in development since early 2020, while the first stable version was made available on 25 December 2021.{{Cite web|date=25 December 2021|title=Release v1.0.5 / 5.55.5|url=https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/releases/tag/1.0.5.1|website=sandboxie-plus / Sandboxie repo|publisher=David Xanatos|via=GitHub}} It includes numerous improvements:

• ability for more granular access control rules
• privacy mode sandboxes that protect user data from illegitimate access
• app compartment mode that provides less isolation but higher compatibility
• per-sandbox network firewall based on Windows Filtering Platform
• modern Qt-based UI with dark mode and built-in support for many advanced options
• per-sandbox snapshots
• a hardened lockdown mode
• support for ARM64-based platforms (starting with v1.5.0) {{Cite web|date=19 October 2022|title=Release v1.5.0 / 5.60.0|url=https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/releases/tag/v1.5.0|website=sandboxie-plus / Sandboxie repo|publisher=David Xanatos|via=GitHub}}

Although the Classic edition lacks native interface support for Plus features, both editions offer the same security and compatibility fixes. While they remain free for private non-commercial use, a few of the newly developed features are only available to project supporters with a valid "supporter certificate".{{Cite web |title=Feature Comparison {{!}} Sandboxie-Plus |url=https://sandboxie-plus.com/feature-comparison/ |access-date=2022-08-24 |language=en-US}}

Until version 0.4.5, antivirus software, including Microsoft Defender Antivirus, falsely flagged Sandboxie Plus. To clear this false flag, the Sandboxie Plus developer had to pay Microsoft for a digital certificate, which he raised thanks to donors on Patreon.{{Cite web|date=16 November 2020|title=Release v0.4.5 / 5.44.1|url=https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/releases/tag/v0.4.5|website=sandboxie-plus / Sandboxie repo|publisher=David Xanatos|via=GitHub}} Version 0.5.0 was the first digitally signed version of Sandboxie Plus.{{Cite web |date=7 December 2020 |title=Release v0.5.0 / 5.45.0 |url=https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/releases/tag/v0.5.0 |website=sandboxie-plus / Sandboxie repo |publisher=David Xanatos |via=GitHub}} An exception exists for the pre-release versions,{{efn|name=preview_definition|Technical Preview}} which are usually not signed to speed up the release process.{{cite web |date=28 January 2023 |title=1.7.0 has no signature; triggers Windows security and 4 detections on virustotal |url=https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/issues/2646#issuecomment-1407468786 |publisher=David Xanatos |access-date=9 April 2023}}

Sandboxie was included in Brothersoft's 2010 Editors Pick list.{{cite web|url=http://www.brothersoft.com/topics/windows/brothersoft-winners-2010-list-of-editors-pick-windows-software.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221105151/http://www.brothersoft.com/topics/windows/brothersoft-winners-2010-list-of-editors-pick-windows-software.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=December 21, 2010|title=Brothersoft Winners 2010: List of Editors Pick Windows Software - Brothersoft windows Topic|accessdate=28 May 2012}} In November 2011, Gizmo's Freeware gave Sandboxie a rating of 9 out of 10 stars{{cite web|url=http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-browser-protection-utility.htm#Quick_Selection_Guide|title=Best Free Browser Protection Utility|accessdate=28 May 2012}} and included it in their Editors' Choice List as the "Best Free Browser Protection Utility".{{cite web|date=1 November 2011|title=The Editors' Choice List: Our Selection of the Best PC Freeware|url=http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/top-freeware-picks-category-editors.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115163105/https://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-browser-protection-utility.htm|archive-date=15 January 2012|website=Gizmo's Freeware}} Softonic has given Sandboxie a rating of 8 out of 10 with Elena Santos stating in her review that "Sandboxie is a handy tool to test untrustworthy software without putting your system in danger."{{cite web|url=https://sandboxie.en.softonic.com|title=Sandboxie - Download| publisher=Softonic| accessdate=28 May 2012}}

• Google Native Client (discontinued)
• iCore Virtual Accounts (discontinued)
• Windows SteadyState (discontinued)

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://github.com/sandboxie-plus Sandboxie-plus fork: releases and documentation]
• {{webarchive| url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814025422/http://esecurityplanet.com/features/article.php/3842331/Sandboxie-Blocking-Web-Based-Malware-From-Your-PC.htm| title=Sandboxie: Blocking Web-Based Malware From Your PC}}
• {{webarchive| url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429072246/http://vallejo.cc/48| title=Sandboxie Internals}}
• [https://bsa.isoftware.nl Buster Sandbox Analyzer] (third-party tool to use with Sandboxie)
• [https://github.com/blap/SandboxToys2 SandboxToys2 fork] (third-party tool to use with Sandboxie)

Category:Utilities for Windows

Category:Windows security software