Digital Workshop

I am in the process of deciding what I want to do in setting up a new development system (desktop). I plan on using ESET AV and Comodo Firewall for non-virtualized boot disks. (I assume I will use VMware and/or Hyper-V at some point).

I have not used Comodo before now -- and find that somewhere in recent time they have added a sandbox capability. So I thought I would just pass that along with the links below:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=343314 this link (forum) mentions Comodo, and points to the next
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN3SAF_K98Q&hd=1 link here is for a youtube how-to for installing and running a program in the comodo sandbox -- "...using a little trick" by setting up a All-users Program Folder shortcut.

Would be happy to hear if you have any hands-on with the Comodo F/W and particularly the sandbox? Any recommendations for choosing/using a different sandbox? TIA

ETA: In the same forums I see frequent mention of Sandboxie & Shadow Defender for similar needs (sandbox for testing behavior of unknown programs, and other testing...)

Upon further discovery, there seems to be some skepticism of Comodo's sandbox handling:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=332356 "Lack of configurability options is the Comodo [sandbox] versions real problem IMO."

Yes, I use CIS Premium and have done since I switched to W7 several years ago. But I have the sandbox functionality turned off. Primarily because a sandbox is designed to prevent normal access to the computer system and most the time I'm building and testing and thus want things operating under 'normal' conditions. Secondly, I don't have many unknown applications running on the system and new software either comes from trusted sources and or I use a third party sandbox or a virtual machine. Thirdly, applications that might benefit from a sandbox such as the web-browser have a range of more practical options such as no-script, ad-block, WOT and site filtering that help actively keep you safe on-line. Lastly, my systems are imaged - so in about 30mins, I can wipe and re-install the entire disk and be up and running again - which is useful against more likely problems than just the things that might be in a sandbox.

CIS, however, is generally a decent security product that does what I need it do and has caused me very few problems over the years - although I did spend some time configuring it to suit my needs at the beginning.

As for virtualization, Oracle's VirtualBox is always worth considering depending on what you're trying to do.

Mack

[///] is deletedThanks Mack.
For my general browsing, personal/prof mail, banking -- I will use a separate laptop. Basic AV and F/W should do. I do use WOT, etc on FF browser -- however as much as I try to run with JS turned off, eBay and other sites have woven it into their clicks/navigation

I'll look into VirtualBox to see if any benefit over Win8 Hyper-V. I am going to need a few development tools, and once I select them, I can do as you do and keep various stages of system image. For evaluating some FOSS CMS and Authoring suites, I will do in a Virtual setting. Once I get to using and tough testing, I will likely maintain and run the suite/front-end-tools in a VHD (If I've got that correct). I'll have a dedicated laptop to serve at host/server.

I'll be working for a while to produce limited-scope pubs/apps. Eventually (when I get to publishing multi-platform apps and subscriptions, remote connections) things will get more complicated I'm afraid. Will need help to expand to that next stage.

Cheers.

Hyper-V does look very interesting though...especially if the disks were running from a Synology box.

No-Script is normally a love / hate add-on. People either swear by it or swear at it . But you can white-list your everyday sites.

Mack