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Re: What's your modus operandi?
de Ben 05/23/2006 10:03
Susan Bugher wrote:
> Software is a "black box" - a door that's waiting to be opened. What's
> the best way to find out what's behind the door? (Is it a lady or a tiger?)
<snippity>
> 3. protecting your existing computer set-up
> 4. recovering from disaster
3 & 4 - SandboxIE! It's been mentioned here before, but may be
considered to be borderline OT as many posters in previous discussions
seem to view it as more nagware than freeware - after 30 days use it
will remind you at every reboot that there is an improved version for
paying users. However, it's miles ahead of using System Restore, one
step beyond using Total Uninstall but just behind using a separate
virtual machine for testing. Although the name implies it's for running
IE in a safe mode, it is capable of running virtually any application -
including setup files - in a sandbox.
All changes made by an application are kept in a virtual sandbox - after
running an installer, it's easy to explore the sandbox and see exactly
which files have been added to the system. If it turns out the
application included any spyware or behaves in a way you don't approve
of, you empty the sandbox and you're back to square one - no traces of
the rogue application left on your system. If the application appears
clean, you can empty the sandbox and install it normally...
My 2c worth :)
Ben