No Real-Time AV.

[Terarus]

I'm interested in how about those who chose no antivirus went about protecting their systems. I know sandboxie plays a large role, but being more specific, what restrictions did you place upon your system and your general feelings about the performance of having no antivirus

[bo.elam]

Originally Posted by Terarus

and your general feelings about the performance of having no antivirus

I don't listen to my PC crying out that its been used to the max anymore.
I use to hear, once in a while, noises, movements from inside the PC.
Those are gone now as the machine is always quiet. I don't think I have
heard it cry once since I got rid of the real timers.

Faster? yes it is faster when I open folders or open my video player or
something like that but the difference in speed is very little. Same for
browsing. A little better but not very noticeable. In my opinion, trying
to get better speed is not a good reason to stop using antivirus.

For me, my favorite benefit is that I don't have to do updates or upgrades
that sometimes go awry. Sometimes I can go 10 days without updating
anything and that not only makes me happy but keep the stress away.

I kind of agree with garth with respect to the rest of your question. Do
as he suggest, create a new SBIE threadand I ll gladly give you my
take on how to go without an antivirus when using Sandboxies
free version.

Bo

[Terarus]

Originally Posted by bo.elam

In my opinion, trying to get better speed is not a good reason to stop using antivirus.
Bo

Hmm, interesting view there. My temptations in the past to drop antivirus was the idea that it'll boost the speed of the system

[bo.elam]

Originally Posted by Terarus

Hmm, interesting view there. My temptations in the past to drop antivirus was the idea that it'll boost the speed of the system

If you are using AV, Firewall and HIPS then dropping that many apps would
certainly have more impact than on my case were I only dropped the AV.

Try using Sandboxie ONLY, along a light AV and the difference in speed is
very little when compared to going with SBIE alone.

If all of the sudden I decided to go back to using an AV, at this time, I would
install Avira10. Installing Avast with only certain shields or MSE can also be
considered light in my opinion as the impact was not very noticeable when I
used them. MSE felt light even though it used more memory than the others.

I know you have used SBIE for a while, combine it with one of the antivirus
that I mentioned and your system is going to run pretty smooth, specially
if you don't use firewalls, HIPS, etc.

Dropping the antivirus and not getting infected is something that I know
can be done but you got to be ready to do it. It took me 2 years of using
SBIE with an antivirus to get to the point were I knew and felt that not
only I was ready but that it was the right thing to do.

I dropped using AV not to gain better speed or performance but because
I got tired of my favorites antiviruses(Avira/MSE) releasing versions that
were buggy or not ready for XP. Dropping the real timers make me happy
that I don't have to update or upgrade them anymore but I also believe
that SBIE works better on its own. In other words, to have SBIE on top
shape, its better not to use anything else.

Bo

[Terarus]

Yup, i dropped the idea of using HIPS and advanced firewalls long time ago seeing that it was quite unnecessary with the introduction of sandboxie.

I use S&B + MSE + windows firewall and it is very light; though i thought the impact of an antivirus was a weight on speed. From what you're saying, i guess not.

I am still a bit paranoid about being unknowingly infected (not so much from browser infection but from external drives or opening files that I deem safe but was really not) which I may remain oblivious to until a scan from on-demand scanners.

[bo.elam]

Originally Posted by Terarus

Yup, i dropped the idea of using HIPS and advanced firewalls long time ago seeing that it was quite unnecessary with the introduction of sandboxie.

I use S&B + MSE + windows firewall and it is very light; though i thought the impact of an antivirus was a weight on speed. From what you're saying, i guess not.

I am still a bit paranoid about being unknowingly infected (not so much from browser infection but from external drives or opening files that I deem safe but was really not) which I may remain oblivious to until a scan from on-demand scanners.

Last time I used an AV real time I had exactly the same setup that you have,
SBIE/MSE and Windows firewall. If you dropped MSE, you ll feel the
difference in speed when opening folders, specially folders that have some
executables in them. It will feel faster when moving around Windows or
when opening an application for the first time after a reboot. Browsing
speed with or without MSE is totally unnoticeable to me.

If you still feel paranoid about being without a real time AV, it means that
you are not ready and should use the antivirus. You ll know when you are
ready, you ll feel it.

For now, start getting use to opening all kind of files and all drives using
SBIE. It can be done on the free version by right clicking files and/or
creating a sandboxed Windows explorer shortcut in order to make it easy
to access all files and folders in the computer sandboxed by using this
shortcut.

Bo

[garth]

Originally Posted by bo.elam

For now, start getting use to opening all kind of files and all drives using
SBIE. It can be done on the free version by right clicking files and/or
creating a sandboxed Windows explorer shortcut in order to make it easy
to access all files and folders in the computer sandboxed by using this
shortcut.

Bo

When i first started using SBIE i would often use FF unsandboxed just because i was too impatient to wait for the slower starting browser but once you get into the habit of opening everything (applicable) sandboxed it soon becomes your normal routine. What you do need to remember though is to open up your browser(s) unsandboxed fairly regularly so both they and any browser addons can be updated.

[eyeb]

you dont have to open it unsandboxed to update it, just recover the sandboxed files for addons to same location and it's updated

I've replaced most of my internet accessing program shortcuts with shortcuts that launch them in sandboxie, this way i dont have to do any extra effort to open things in sandboxie

[garth]

Originally Posted by eyeb

you dont have to open it unsandboxed to update it, just recover the sandboxed files for addons to same location and it's updated

I've replaced most of my internet accessing program shortcuts with shortcuts that launch them in sandboxie, this way i dont have to do any extra effort to open things in sandboxie

Never thought to do it that way
Will that update bookmarks too?

[eyeb]

Oh, since I have my drive partitioned into C drive for Windows, E Drive for my programs and files and I use mostly portable programs. Ones that aren't portable, I still install to E drive so this drive has every program/file that isn't associated with Windows, this way Windows will be more unlikely to become infected/corrupted. I've had a 3rd parition for files (papers/photos) in past but I've since then concluded that having a single program/data partition is enough. Benefit is that if I ever have to install windows again, I can install to C drive and all my files/programs remain in tact on E drive so I don't have to reinstall anything. This was my answer to an alternative to making images of system.

I set up the bookmark file/addon folder to be allowed to be written to so they stay updated/current. I do keep a backup of them so if something happens I can manually delete/overwrite the files and it is back to where backup state is.

I've also used time freeze concurrently with my 2 partitions before, so even if something got to my E drive, a restart would clean my C drive and nothing would change. But I've stopped this since I felt it added no extra protection than my 2 partitions with a restricted/hardened sandboxie.

edit: while I have this as my basic setup, I do have avira as a real time scanner. I don't really care if it is there or not for normal surfing but I do like to download/test software so it would be foolish of me to not have a real time scanner. While I test software I run sandboxie/time freeze (or use a virtual system) but doing this increases the risk of something going bad/virus so this is the reason I have Avira. If I didn't try new software, I would feel comfortable enough without using Avira. Really it's like using a condom , I jump from software to software, might as well take some precautions instead of just sticking to the 1 or few programs that are known/trusted