- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
Tags
apple,aurora,automated backup,automation alley,business consulting,computer repair,computer virus,detroit it consulting,Disaster Recovery,email,facebook,fixed cost it support,flat rate it support,foresite,friendfeed,green it,Hardware,information security,information technology,internet safety,it,IT Consulting,kaspersky anti virus,Mac,malware,Managed IT,managed service,michigan,Michigan IT Services,online backup,operating systems,outsourced it support,passwords,ping.fm,Remote Workforce,Social Networking,Software,spam,twitter,virus removal,web 2.0,web hosting,website,Windows,Windows 7
Let the Internet play in a Sandbox
I have spent some time over the past few weeks trying to develop ways to proactively prevent users from infecting themselves from the evils of the Internet, namely spyware. Unfortunately, most of the time when you are surfing the Internet by the time you realize you are infected, it is too late. Spyware and malware has been developed to the point where it can be present on the most seemingly benign website and even pose as a legitimate application. A great example of this is the “Antivirus 2010” malware that has become all too common.
A few of my users have been experimenting with a freeware product I recommend called Sandboxie to see if this helps keep their system free and clear. We have found that the use of this particular program has helped thwart the infection of malware and viruses significantly on computers.
The program, Sandboxie, basically allows you as the user to run programs “in a sandbox” where you have the option to revert or wipe any changes made by the program. Consider this as an example. Let’s say you are surfing the Internet in your “sandbox” using Internet Explorer or Mozilla. If you visit a webpage that downloads something to your computer that you are unaware of or attempts to install spyware, you can pull up Sandboxie and tell it to wipe all of those changes made and leaves your computer unharmed. The reason this is so effective is because most of the time when surfing the Internet you will stumble across website laden with spyware without even realizing it and Sandboxie allows you to reverse those accidents without resulting in long, arduous, and sometimes expensive reloading of Windows.
The Internet is riddled with malware and most of the time you won’t see it coming. Programs like Sandboxie will allow you to put protections in place that will guard your usage of the Internet and prevent major issues from occurring.
No Responses to “Let the Internet play in a Sandbox”
