*** INTRODUCING: New pre-release build of avast [NOW 5.0.673] ***

[pk]

Under Real Times Shields Process Virtualization is still not showing on my XP computer, but is showing up on my W7 computers.
Is this by design?

process virtualization is available for Windows XP SP2+ (x86 only), Windows XP x64 isn't supported

[Hermite15]

I can't get flash player running in Firefox virtualized if I don't check "all settings", meaning that also add-ons plugins and extentions, on top of bookmarks, cookies, history, shouldn't be sandboxed when I launch the browser, meaning that flash player can't run virtualized, at least in Firefox...will check with Chrome...

 edit: okay, flash of course works in Chrome, with flash virtualized, as long as the built in flash player runs. If I switch to the external flash plugin it doesn't work anymore. Also, whether history is sandboxed or not, the thumbnails of the "new tab" page appear all broken.
 Alright, no big deal as sandboxing is hardly needed with Chrome.

[_Rej_]

excelent, downloading, installing, testing

Same here

[Nesivos]

Under Real Times Shields Process Virtualization is still not showing on my XP computer, but is showing up on my W7 computers.
Is this by design?

process virtualization is available for Windows XP SP2+ (x86 only), Windows XP x64 isn't supported

The computer of mine that it is not visible on is XP SP3 (x86)

It was there on 5.0.4XX but when I tried to upgrade it to 5.0.661 I got this error message "missing components not installed" or something along those lines.

So I uninstalled the 5.0.4XX and then installed 5.0.661.  However with the clean install of 5.0.661 process virtualization did not and does not appear.

If it should be there and it is not, should I uninstall 5.0.661 and then try reinstalling 5.0.661 clean?

[pk]

The computer of mine that it is not visible on is XP SP3 (x86)
If it should be there and it is not, should I uninstall 5.0.661 and then try reinstalling 5.0.661 clean?

mmm, XP SP3 (x86) is supported and "Virtualization Feature" option should be available in setup (are you sure you install Pro/AIS version and not Free?). Tested Pro version on XP SP3 32-bit here and no problem with that.

Please compress & send me (kurtin@avast.com) your setup.log file ("c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast5\Setup\setup.log").

Thanks

[Nesivos]

I uninstalled 5.0.661 and then reinstalled it.

Process Virtualization is there and working fine for Firefox 3.6 including sound on videos.

However, now I am back to Thunderbird not working in the sand box. 

This problem first occurred when I originally installed AIS 5.0.549?

I was able to change some settings and got it to work

However I don't remember which settings I had to change.

If I can't figure it out over the next several days I will post the error message.

[Vlk]

You're trying to run Thunderbird inside the sandbox?
You mean with the paths where the data files are stored excluded from the virtualization?

[RedFan]

5.0.661 Running smoothly so far.

nice 

[Lisandro]

You're trying to run Thunderbird inside the sandbox?
You mean with the paths where the data files are stored excluded from the virtualization?

It would be great if avast team develop a guide called "how to use the sandbox and virtualization" for browsers and email clients. What to do, what to set, etc.
The help files describe what avast settings do but NOT the final situation of a process sandboxed (what you can do, what you can't, what will work, what will not..., the advantages of doing so, how is the user protected against malware in these conditions).
Shortly: sell to me the use of the sandbox...

[Hermite15]

useless for an email client tbh, unless you want to virtualize the downloading of potentially malicious attachment, which means sandboxing non-malicious files too. As you may know Avast sandbox isn't accessible through explorer (well there are tricks...), meaning that most people won't be able to retrieve an expected attachment. Not virtualizing attachments? okay then why sandboxing the email client at all? for iframes, malicious pics, URLS ? there's an email shield to take care of that.

 As far as I'm concerned the sandbox is just for browsers, and I'm still waiting for it to work properly (see my post above about flash player).

[Lisandro]

I never managed to use it with email clients... Everything is lost... What's the purpose?
Even for browsers you need some "real" files...
If you want a perfect sandboxed and virtualized system, go off line

[Hermite15]

yeah..except email clients don't download files constantly like a browser, meaning that you can afford downloading most of them, to cache etc, in a sandbox, while having downloaded files somewhere in a safe place out of the sandbox. In terms of security doesn't make sense either (for the downloads)but there's still a use for sandboxing a browser while there's basically none with an email client.

 On a side note, concerning the bugs I reported above, I won't waste too much time about it, as I already reported that months ago, and honesty I can live very well without sandboxing anything

[_Rej_]

Ok, after testing for around 10 hours, it seems that the flash issue with firefox being sandboxed is fixed    Now Flash always works.

I'll keep testing and report anything out of the ordinary.

Regards,

Rej

P.S. Question about the Sanbox Expert Settings -- Can I get more details as to what the "Store files in special storage in the sandbox (content will not be automatically deleted)."

Is there *any* disadvantage to unchecking this box (it's checked by default).  -- I'm wondering because I wonder what happens after months of usage and files not getting deleted.  Thx

[Hermite15]

fixed how? the sandboxing process appeared broken in this build (and older), and it would be suddenly fixed, in the same build got to run it 10 hours to get it working?

ps: by broken I just mean that flash refuses to get sandboxed, at least on my system.

[_Rej_]

fixed Huh how?

Well, before 661, 75% of the time, flash would not run at all in Firefox while sanboxed.   Now it runs 100% of the time.

Not sure what you mean by the sandboxing process being broken.  I've seen issues with it (after a few more hours of testing since my last message) but nothing indicating it's not working (broken).

The flash issue I had was fixed with the beta 661... it wasn't working properly in all previous versions I've tried.  Not sure where you got the "suddenly fixed, in the same build".

got to run it 10 hours to get it working? Grin

hehe, no, it worked straight out of the box right after I installed .661.  And Flash has been working every time I start FF sanboxed for the last 10 hours (meaning 30-40 times). -- in the previous versions, it would NOT load approximately 75% of the time, now it loads 100% of the time.

As for the (perhaps new) issues I've noticed in the last few hours.... sometimes, after having browsed a lot and coming up on a page with embedded flash, FF will start to freeze while trying to play the flash video.   This happened a few times now (in the last 2 hours) and I'm trying to find a way to recreate it.  I've *never* experienced this while using Free Avast or MSE + Sandboxie 3.48.

Regards,

R