Border sandboxed indicator

[Guest]

I created Launcher that will run as many apps as you put in the 'Launcher.txt' file. I've included an example Launcher.txt file to get you started.

I'm using it and... works like I needed. I can start Sandboxie with BorderGuard when I want. Your Launcher is useful for others others app.. also.
Thanks A LOT for your kindly attentiveness!

To use Sandboxie with your BorderGuard allows the user to know and to be sure that a windows is sandboxed. Excellent tool to the user!

Thank you very much!!!

Best Regards.

[Micahs]

Glad it's useful!

[Kissol]

Using Border Guard a while and found it very useful. I never thought that there was such kind of tool. I found it by fortuitous in this forum.

My Sandboxie seems better and the windows sandboxed easily identifiable.

Thanks a lot for it!

[Micahs]

I'm happy that it's useful and appreciated! Thanks!
If you have any questions or suggestions, give a holler.

[Guest_X]

This is an absolutely spectacular add-on for Sandboxie.

I actually came to the forums today just to request colored borders as a feature (having seen them in the otherwise inferior and now discontinued SafeSpace), but fortunately did a search first and found this thread. Exactly what I needed!

Though I'm late to the party here, thanks very much for this excellent work Micahs!

One minor suggestion I would offer is to add a settings option (in the borderguard.ini file) that lets you hide/disable the BorderGuard system tray icon. I'm naturally going to be running BorderGuard all the time now, but hate to see something I never need to interact with taking up taskbar space. Perhaps something like "HideTrayIcon" = 0 or 1 (with the default set to 0)?

Another idea - though possibly more difficult to implement - is to detect when the colored borders have reached the edge of the screen and then move inward (if moved beyond the border width). When fully maximized, you have the colored borders "sink in" so you still see them - which is fantastic. But if you instead stretch a sandoxed window to be as wide and tall as your screen, three of the borders will disappear - leaving only the one next to the taskbar visible. Of course, since the border next to the taskbar remains, this isn't a major deal if implementing it would be overly complicated - but just in case it isn't, I figured I'd offer this as another thought.

@tzuk: Would you perhaps consider a feature request for some way to have Sandboxie allow for launching additional programs whenever it starts? Like I'm sure others probably do, I only use Sandboxie manually when needed - meaning I have the service set to manual and nothing started from the Registry or StartUp folder. When I need Sandboxie, I right click on something and select "Run Sandboxed". So it would be nice if I could have that action trigger BorderGuard first too. Obviously such co-started programs would still be left running when you exit Sandboxie, but that seems better than having them always running from startup or having to always remember to launch them manually. Thanks!

[tzuk]

@tzuk: Would you perhaps consider a feature request for some way to have Sandboxie allow for launching additional programs whenever it starts?

No, but you can solve this problem by creating a small batch file that runs both program. Put these two lines in the batch file, let's say StartSbie.bat.

Code: Select all

start "x" "c:\path\to\borderGuard\borderGuard.exe"
start "x" "c:\Program Files\Sandboxie\SbieCtrl.exe"

Note, you may need to adjust the paths above.

[Guest_X]

Thanks very much tzuk. I had thought of that, but unfortunately it wouldn't work when using Sandboxie the way I do - which is with nothing autostarting and just selecting "Run Sandboxed" from the Explorer right click context menu whenever needed.

As a work-around, is there any way I can modify what that "Run Sandboxed" entry calls? I checked the Registry, but didn't find the string "Run Sandboxed" anywhere. I did find references under:

1. HKEY_USERS\{long_alphanumeric_string}\Software\Classes\*\shell\sandbox\command
2. HKEY_USERS\{long_alphanumeric_string}\Software\Classes\Folder\shell\sandbox\command
3. HKEY_USERS\{long_alphanumeric_string}_Classes\*\shell\sandbox\command
4. HKEY_USERS\{long_alphanumeric_string}_Classes\Folder\shell\sandbox\command

which call start.exe with either "/box:__ask__ "%1" %*" or "/box:__ask__ Explorer.exe "%1" as parameters. Are those what the Explorer context menu entry uses?

If it is possible to modify the context menu entry to instead launch a batch file, I could make it do what I'd like. And that's easy enough if those keys are the correct place to do it.

No need to respond further if this isn't possible though. I don't want to waste your time and can always just figure this out later by testing.

@Micahs: Now that I've used BorderGuard more, I have another request: a settings option which allows the borders to remain visible even when the bordered sandboxed windows are not in focus. At first I thought you just couldn't border multiple sandboxed windows, but now I see it's a focus issue. And when multiple windows are open, this can become a problem. I'd like sandboxed windows to always be bordered - even if in the background. Would such an option be possible?

Thanks again!

[stisev]

Great program.

It would be great if this functionality could be encorporated int Sandboxie directly (without having to run an additional process). With that said, thank you for making borderguard portable

I love portable appz :p

And thanks to tzuk, tests for all of their hard work!

[Micahs]

...have Sandboxie allow for launching additional programs whenever it starts?

The second version of Launcher, aptly named LauncherV2, will allow this. It comes with an installer/uninstaller to make it easy to use. It is not a perfect solution perhaps, but it seems to work well. LauncherV2Installer renames "SbieCtrl.exe" to "SbieCtrl.exe.REDIR.exe" and replaces "SbieCtrl.exe" with LauncherV2. When started, the new SbieCtrl.exe will run "SbieCtrl.exe.REDIR.exe" and then any programs in the "Launcher.txt" file. This lets you run any other program that you wish just by adding a line with the path to the exe in "Launcher.txt".

For this to work, you have to have the option to run the Sandboxie Control when sandboxing an app turned on.
You can start borderGuard (or any other app) when you run any sandboxed program. I have also modified borderGuard to monitor for sandboxed apps and terminate the Sandboxie Control and borderGuard if there are no sandboxed programs. This lets you run certain programs only when something is sandboxed. (This can be turned off if you are not using LauncherV2, just set "exterminate=0" in "borderGuard.ini") The latest versions of LauncherV2 and borderGuard have not been uploaded yet. I'll try to do this tomorrow.

...settings option (in the borderguard.ini file) that lets you hide/disable the BorderGuard system tray icon.

Done. Set "showTrayIcon=1" or "0" in "borderGuard.ini". This update is available, download here.

detect when the colored borders have reached the edge of the screen and then move inward

I'll look into this. It should not be a huge deal.

settings option which allows the borders to remain visible even when the bordered sandboxed windows are not in focus

This is a bit more difficult. Instead of just monitoring the active window, the entire stack of visible windows would have to be monitored and separate borders injected into the stack for each sandboxed window. I'll look into this too.

[Guest_X]

...LauncherV2Installer renames "SbieCtrl.exe" to "SbieCtrl.exe.REDIR.exe" and replaces "SbieCtrl.exe" with LauncherV2. When started, the new SbieCtrl.exe will run "SbieCtrl.exe.REDIR.exe" and then any programs in the "Launcher.txt" file...

...I have also modified borderGuard to monitor for sandboxed apps and terminate the Sandboxie Control and borderGuard if there are no sandboxed programs. This lets you run certain programs only when something is sandboxed...

This should do exactly what I need (based on the way I'm doing things). Clever stuff.

I just re-downloaded both BG and Launcher. The BG files are new, but the Launcher files are from April - so I guess that's not the new version yet. But the reason I bring this up is to ask if I will need to re-download BG again once you post LauncherV2. With the BG version from this month, I don't see an "exterminate" parameter in borderguard.ini and it didn't close with SB - so I'm guessing that support may not be there yet.

BTW, when you do post LauncherV2, consider starting a new thread for it too. That's an extremely useful tool on it's own, not just for use in conjunction with BG. It would be a shame if someone missed out on it because they aren't interested in borders and skip this thread.

Done. Set "showTrayIcon=1" or "0" in "borderGuard.ini". This update is available, download here.

Perfect.

detect when the colored borders have reached the edge of the screen and then move inward

I'll look into this. It should not be a huge deal.

settings option which allows the borders to remain visible even when the bordered sandboxed windows are not in focus

This is a bit more difficult. Instead of just monitoring the active window, the entire stack of visible windows would have to be monitored and separate borders injected into the stack for each sandboxed window. I'll look into this too.

Guess I assumed the difficulty levels backwards.

Thanks very much for the updates. It is much appreciated!

With these two add-ons, plus the others here, Sandboxie increases in value. tzuk should link to these things from the official download page (add a "Contributions" section to it perhaps?).

[Micahs]

Sorry, I haven't uploaded the new versions yet. I decided to change things a little. There's no reason to drag borderGuard into this. The LauncherV2 will now stay running after it launches SbieCtrl.exe.REDIR.exe and any apps in the launcher.txt file. It will monitor for sandboxed progs and terminate the control and itself, along with anything it launched, if there are no sandboxed progs running. Any exceptions to this will be will be specified in the launcher.txt file.

When adding a line in the txt file, use the following format:

SingleInstance | Terminate | Path
1 or 0 | 1 or 0 | c:\test\test123.exe

EG: 1|1|c:\test\test123.exe

You have the option to only run a single instance of the prog, or an instance every time a sandboxed prog is run. There is also an option to terminate the launched prog when there are no sandboxed apps running, or leave it running.

If the launched app is in the Sandboxie dir (where LauncherV2 is), you can use relative paths instead of absolute paths.

I might put the SbieCtrl.exe.REDIR.exe in the launcher.txt file, too. This will give the user the option to NOT run it when running an app sandboxed.

Again, I have not yet uploaded any of this. I'll try to get to it soon!

[Guest_X]

Great stuff. This will really make my life easier. One of the ways I use Sandboxie is for malware research, and your add-ons really help with that sort of thing.

There's no reason to drag borderGuard into this.

I only mentioned borderGuard in relation to LauncherV2 since obviously a new BG version with support for "exterminate" will be needed too.

[Micahs]

I'm sorry for the miscommunication. I meant that it was not necessary for me to drag borderGuard into this. The launcher will take care of the launching and terminating. BorderGuard, SbieCtrl, and any other launched programs will just be innocent bystanders.

I will post the updates as soon as I finish them. I'm glad this stuff is of use!

[Mike]

I used the download link and went to install - Spyware Doctor stopped the installation and flagged Trojan.Virtumonde as trying to install. Is this a false positive or is there a problem with this?

[Guest10]

Is this a false positive or is there a problem with this?

Norton A/V 2008 says the download is not infected.