Why Everyone Should Use a Sandboxed Browser

By Sue Blizzard

According to www.sandboxie.com, “Sandboxie uses isolation technology to separate programs from your underlying operating system preventing unwanted changes from happening to your personal data, programs and applications that rest safely on your hard drive.” But what, you may ask, is ‘isolation technology’ and why is it useful?

In essence, a sandbox application or program is the embodiment of ‘isolation technology.’ Wikipedia defines a sandbox, in computer security, as, “A security mechanism for separating running programs. It is often used to execute untested or untrusted programs or code, possibly from unverified or untrusted third parties, suppliers, users or websites, without risking harm to the host machine or operating system.” 

The Sandboxie FAQ uses a simple analogy.

​Think of your PC as a piece of paper. Every program you run writes on the paper. When you run your browser, it writes on the paper about every site you visited. And any malware you come across will usually try to write itself into the paper….

The Sandboxie sandbox works like a transparency layer placed over the paper. Programs write on the transparency layer and to them it looks like the real paper. When you delete the sandbox, it's like removing the transparency layer, [and] the unchanged, real paper is revealed.

Sandboxie will work on any Intel processor-based operating system and in most browsers. You can run almost any application or program in Sandboxie – and more are being worked on and added continually – including web browsers, email programs, and to test new applications and programs. Sandboxie even protects your personal data files and folders stored in My Documents from access by internet sites and malicious programs.

To those of us who use computers extensively in our work and personal lives, a sandbox is very useful. If I can use it and then trust a new program or download, it’s worth every effort and cost.

If you've tried a sandbox program or application, how well did it work for you? If you're considering one, tell us which one(s) you're looking at.