Conflict between Avast! Pro and Sandboxie

[fjgold]

Hi Folks,  I just purchased the Avast! 5 Pro version to replace my Avast! 4 install on my Win 7 machine.
I run Firefox and other programs that access the internet sandboxed using Sandboxie.
With the new Avast 5 Pro installed Firefox fails to start when opened by Sandboxie.
I had no such issues with Avast! 4.
The funny thing is that if I uninstall Avast! 5 Pro and install the free version of Avast! 5 Firefox opens in Sandboxie just fine.

I don't think this is a Sandboxie issue. I think Avast! 5 Pro is somehow preventing Sandboxie
from opening Firefox.

Does anyone here have an idea what's going on here.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Otherwise I've wasted $27.00 on this upgrade.

[doktornotor]

There was/is a problem w/ quickscan of sandboxed folders described on SBIE forums and here as well. Wrt your FF problem, if I understand you correctly you are basically trying to run it double-sandboxed (Sandboxie plus Avast), which isn't surprising to bring some issues with it.

[Hermite15]

I've had the case of running a process sandboxed (by avast) while having CIS sandbox running (forgot to deactivate it) and attempting to run the same process automatically (as it's supposed to do with "unrecognized" programs) >>> a complete disaster >>> bsod

[fjgold]

There was/is a problem w/ quickscan of sandboxed folders described on SBIE forums and here as well. Wrt your FF problem, if I understand you correctly you are basically trying to run it double-sandboxed (Sandboxie plus Avast), which isn't surprising to bring some issues with it.

Am I reading you correctly that the pro version runs a sandbox of it's own by default.
If so how would I shut it off?
I want to only use Sandboxie to run FF sandboxed.
If it isn't possible to turn off the sandbox feature in Avast! 5 pro then it is a major step backwards.
I stopped (gave up my license) to AVG and started using Avast! 4 because AVG got too sophisticated for it's own
good with a major upgrade. It became too intrusive.
Looks like Avast! is following suit.

Apparently the free version of Avast contains no sandbox tech, hence it doesn't mess with Sandboxie.
Avast! should leave the sandboxing to the experts (Sandboxie) and provide quality anti virus protection only.

[doktornotor]

You must have specified to run FF always sandboxed in Avast, otherwise it wouldn't. Someone will give you more precise pointers, I don't use Pro/AIS.

Wrt the second - look, it's inevitable. There are tons of stuff undetected by AVs created every day. If that slips undetected to your computer and you run it, the damage will be severely limited by sandboxing such malware. Case in point are those drive-by downloads and infected sites on web. FWIW, Avast is pretty non-intrusive in this area. If you look at Kaspersky 2011 beta, they implement entire virtual desktop for their "safe run for applications" sandbox flavour.

[Hermite15]

@ fjgold : you should have a look at Avast "pro" features and behavior before stating wrong things. The sandbox there doesn't do anything by default, at the contrary of CIS4 (Comodo) sandbox that runs automatically unrecognized software sandboxed. It won't sandbox anything unless you either specify that you want it sandboxed once, or permanently. And I don't see why sandboxie would keep a monopoly Avast sandbox isn't perfect but they're improving it constantly

ps: and to be clear, concerning the avast sandbox, there's nothing to turn off, it's a manual module. But if you hate it that much, you can uninstall it (just the component), leaving you with just the scriptshield as a pro feature (pretty useless imo), and making me wonder why you renewed your pro license   instead of just using the "free" version.
 So like stated above, unless you set FF to be sandboxed permanently by avast, there's no possible conflict with sandboxie. Just a guess, did you try (sandboxie) with the scriptshield turned off?

[fjgold]

@ fjgold : you should have a look at Avast "pro" features and behavior before stating wrong things. The sandbox there doesn't do anything by default, at the contrary of CIS4 (Comodo) sandbox that runs automatically unrecognized software sandboxed. It won't sandbox anything unless you either specify that you want it sandboxed once, or permanently. And I don't see why sandboxie would keep a monopoly Avast sandbox isn't perfect but they're improving it constantly

ps: and to be clear, concerning the avast sandbox, there's nothing to turn off, it's a manual module. But if you hate it that much, you can uninstall it (just the component), leaving you with just the scriptshield as a pro feature (pretty useless imo), and making me wonder why you renewed your pro license   instead of just using the "free" version.
 So like stated above, unless you set FF to be sandboxed permanently by avast, there's no possible conflict with sandboxie. Just a guess, did you try (sandboxie) with the scriptshield turned off?

I finally got Avast! pro to behave by doing an upgrade over the free version. Why that worked I don't know.
BTW, I didn't state any untruths, I merely asked if the sandbox feature was turned on by default and how to turn it off if it was.
I'm not disparaging Avast! as a whole, it's just that I don't like the sandbox feature.
I have a lifetime license to Sandboxie and IMHO Sandboxie does a better job at sandboxing my internet facing apps.
That is as long as Avast! 5 doesn't interfere.

As for renewing my pro license I never figured to have issues with my Sandboxie apps.

[pk]

fjgold, as it was told, avast sandbox is disabled by default. You need to run a specific application in avast sandbox to enable this module. We don't know about possible conflicts between avast pro and sandboxie. However, please tell me what's your OS + what sbie version you're using. Does sandboxed FF start and terminate automatically, or it doesn't even start? You can try to uninstall just avast sandbox module to see if it helps. Thanks.

[fjgold]

fjgold, as it was told, avast sandbox is disabled by default. You need to run a specific application in avast sandbox to enable this module. We don't know about possible conflicts between avast pro and sandboxie. However, please tell me what's your OS + what sbie version you're using. Does sandboxed FF start and terminate automatically, or it doesn't even start? You can try to uninstall just avast sandbox module to see if it helps. Thanks.

Hi Peter, OS is Win 7 Home Premium and SBIE is the paid latest version.
What would happen is that FF would start and then automatically terminate, no error message.
I've fixed the problem by running the pro installer over the free version.
I now have the Pro version working fine with no conflicts.
Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions.
Sorry for the rant earlier but I wasn't aware of the default configuration.
Since I use Sandboxie I have no use for the sandbox feature in Avast! 5 Pro but I agree that no one company
should have a monopoly on sandbox tech.
Hopefully the Avast! 5 Pro sandbox feature will be of use to those folks not having another sandbox program.
Sandbox technology is a great tool for protecting a computer alongside a great A\V program like Avast!.

As I said before the reason I switched from AVG Pro to Avast! 4 Pro a year ago was because AVG upgraded their product and the upgrade was a step backwards using more resources and becoming quite intrusive and less configurable.

I was worried that something similar had happened with Avast! 5 thank goodness my fears were unfounded.

As to the $27.00 upgrade fee, even if I don't use the features that separate the paid from the free version,
it's money well spent if only to support Avast!.