Icon in Context Menu

Ideas for enhancements to the software
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orbidia
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 7:33 am

Icon in Context Menu

Post by orbidia » Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:50 pm

Tzuk,

I was going to test a downloaded program by running it sandboxed in Win 7.

So I right clicked the program and clicked "Run..."

Of course, I did it so fast, I didn't realize that I accidentally clicked "Run as Administrator" instead of "Run Sandboxed"!

So instead of testing the program in a secure sandbox, the program ran with full adminstrator priviledges! Oh brother. I hope it didn't have a virus.

Obviously, I can't ask Sandboxie to protect me from my own silly mouse misfires.

But I looked at the context menu and I realized that there is an ICON next to Run as Administrator which makes it very attractive to click. It is also always place right above "Run Sandboxed" so it is somewhat easy to make that potentially drastic mistake.

What I thought would be helpful so people don't make this kind of silly error, is to put the SANDBOXIE ICON in the Context Menu like some other context menu items. This will give one more visual clue we are clicking on the correct item so people will be less likely to make the kind of mistake I made above.

Hopefully, the Sandboxie Icon can be added to the right-click context menu without too much difficulty.

On a related but slightly more difficult note, it would be nice if there was more than one choice of Active/Inactive Icon sets for Sandboxie similar to how Winamp gives a small choice of suitable icons to represent their program. I'm used to the current one so I don't care too much but I always thought even a couple simple COLOR VARIATIONS of the current icon set would be a nice option and that should be easy enough to create. Other creative ideas would be fine too. But if you are attached to the icon, don't worry about this suggestion. The context menu idea above I consider much more important because of my own mouse misfires!

This really is the best program for Windows Security. I'm so happy it is working with Win7 64bit that I finally purchased a copy a few weeks ago.

Thanks a bunch!

tzuk
Sandboxie Founder
Sandboxie Founder
Posts: 16076
Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2004 12:57 pm

Post by tzuk » Thu Nov 04, 2010 10:29 am

orbidia wrote:What I thought would be helpful so people don't make this kind of silly error, is to put the SANDBOXIE ICON in the Context Menu like some other context menu items. This will give one more visual clue we are clicking on the correct item so people will be less likely to make the kind of mistake I made above.
I believe I have introduced this in version 3.50:

http://www.sandboxie.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=9011

However you have to force Sandboxie Control to re-create the shortcut icons before you can see this change. How to do that is mentioned at the bottom of the topic I linked to.
orbidia wrote: On a related but slightly more difficult note, it would be nice if there was more than one choice of Active/Inactive Icon sets for Sandboxie similar to how Winamp gives a small choice of suitable icons to represent their program. I'm used to the current one so I don't care too much but I always thought even a couple simple COLOR VARIATIONS of the current icon set would be a nice option and that should be easy enough to create.
I'm afraid I do not understand what you mean. Active/Inactive what?
tzuk

SnDPhoenix
Posts: 2690
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:44 pm
Location: West Florida

Post by SnDPhoenix » Thu Nov 04, 2010 4:27 pm

tzuk wrote:
orbidia wrote: On a related but slightly more difficult note, it would be nice if there was more than one choice of Active/Inactive Icon sets for Sandboxie similar to how Winamp gives a small choice of suitable icons to represent their program. I'm used to the current one so I don't care too much but I always thought even a couple simple COLOR VARIATIONS of the current icon set would be a nice option and that should be easy enough to create.
I'm afraid I do not understand what you mean. Active/Inactive what?
I believe he is talking about Sandboxie's System tray icon and by Active/Inactive I think he means Active = Icon with red dots, Inactive = Yellow icon.
What I think he is asking for is that the icon be color coded instead, this way when nothing is running the icon is yellow, when a program is running sandboxed the icon turns green, when the sandbox is deleting the icon is red, and etc..
Atleast I think thats what he meant. :P

Guest10
Posts: 5124
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:24 pm
Location: Ohio, USA

Re: Icon in Context Menu

Post by Guest10 » Thu Nov 04, 2010 4:46 pm

orbidia wrote:On a related but slightly more difficult note, it would be nice if there was more than one choice of Active/Inactive Icon sets for Sandboxie similar to how Winamp gives a small choice of suitable icons to represent their program.
I assume that he means add additional sets of icons that can be chosen, similar to Properties > Change Icon.
Only it sounds like he suggests being able to choose between different sets of icons, changing a complete set of icons all at once.

orbidia should see the "Run Sandboxed" icon in the context menu, with Win 7 and v3.50
XP users are out of luck, with that.
Paul
Win 10 Home 64-bit (w/admin rights) - Zone Alarm Pro Firewall, MalwareBytes Premium A/V, Cyberfox, Thunderbird
Sandboxie user since March 2007

orbidia
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 7:33 am

Post by orbidia » Fri Nov 05, 2010 5:01 am

I was running 3.48. I updated to 3.50 and recreated the shortcut icons. It works! The Sandboxie Icon is in the Context Menus! Hopefully I won't make the same mistake from my original post again. What are the odds this feature was just added within a couple weeks of me thinking about it? Thanks Tzuk.

As for "Active/Inactive", I don't know the proper terminology. I was talking about the Icon State of the Tray Icon (what Guest10 said):

Inactive = Sandboxie yellow only Tray Icon when the sandbox is not being used
Active = Sandboxie yellow with red dots Tray Icon when the sandbox is being used

Some people like different visual styles/colors for icons. I was just saying there could be a selection of the style of the two states of the tray icon with colors other than yellow only and yellow and red dots. Maybe Blue only and Blue with white dots would be another example. Ideally, there could even be some totally new "active/inactive" icon sets but that is a lot more difficult than just giving some color options with the same shaped/style icon as now. I was trying to make it as simple as possible to implement while still suggesting a few other color choices for how the icon will look.

The most customizable would be to have a setting under:
Sandboxie Control / Configure / Windows Shell Integration
And have both Yellow Tray Icon and Yellow with Red Dots Tray Icon shown. Allow the user to select their own two icons for the icon states. But it's rare to have totally configurable Tray Icons because software companies gerenally like "Branding/Advertising". That's why I was just suggesting a couple different color options - similar to Winamp does it. To see this in Winamp, load up Winamp and Go to Options/Preferences/General Preferences and there a slider for the style of Tray Icon. I just checked Winamp and actually there are a bunch of totally different styles for the icon as well as just color changes. But Winamp only has a single state for its tray icon so it's a bit easier to deal with.

SnDPhoenix then thought of another idea. Of course, that's even more work... Having another icon state for "totally empty sandbox" is another potential bit of feedback which may be beneficial. But it gets more confusing especially when there are multiple sandboxes and then the "Totally empty sandbox" state would really need to mean "all the sandboxes are totally empty" which would rarely happen. So a third Icon State for that doesn't seem to be worth the added confusion and effort to program. If this idea could be developed, maybe some other ideas for Icon States could provide useful information. The only bit I can think of quickly is showing the sandbox number in the Tray Icon. Can more than one Sandbox be active at the same time with Sandboxie?

Please don't take this suggestion as an insult or anything. I actually like the Sandboxie Icon! I guess it tells you how good the program is performing when the best suggestion I can come up with is to give options for configuring the look of the Tray Icon. I fully understand this is a very superficial feature request which is why I said it wasn't important. Although, I'm sure some people would find it more important than others depending how visually oriented the person is and also considering that everyone has different tastes.

orbidia
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 7:33 am

Post by orbidia » Fri Nov 05, 2010 5:14 am

I just thought of this idea. I don't know if it is easier to program but it would maybe be better.

How about a color selector for the Yellow of the Tray Icon.
And another color selector for the Red Dots of the Tray Icon.

Then the color of both icon states can then be totally customized without actually having to offer any new icons? Also, the shape/design of the icon will always stay how it is now.

Just an idea.

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