Sandboxie, a free application, creates a virtual layer on your computer where you can run and install various software applications without actual changes to your true hard disk.
Simply, Sandboxie forces applications to write to the layer instead of the hard disk, and is able to wipe everything clean afterwards, perfect for demoing software. In this post we’ll be explaining the very basic usage of Sandboxie so you can run and install programs into a layer (sandbox). Download and install from here.
When it finishes installing, you’ll be greeted with this window. We want to run Windows Explorer (which will allow us to access all our programs), so hit Sandbox → DefaultBox → Run Sandboxed → Windows Explorer.
See the [#] around the window title? This designates that the program is sandboxed. If you want to double check, just take a look at the main window and which processes are running inside the sandbox.
I decided to run Firefox, so I browsed over to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox and double clicked on firefox.exe. This will execute Firefox in a sandbox as you’re running it from a sandboxed Windows Explorer. Any attempts of Firefox to write to the cache, history, bookmarks, etc. will be erased on quit, allowing you to hide your tracks.
Firefox is now contained in a sandbox, as indicated by the [#] surrounding the title. Your browsing history and such will be erased upon exit, allowing for privacy.
Using Sandboxie, you can install programs onto a virtual layer, allowing you to erase them once you are finished using them as all registry and file changes are caught by the layer.
