Tag: SANDBOX

Trustware BufferZone is a great way to add an additional layer of security to your Windows computer. It's a sandboxing application, which means it helps isolate programs so they can't directly interfere with your Windows installation. Sandboxing is a terrific way to defend against malware infections. Unfortunately, BufferZone had one serious shortfall. When Windows 7 arrived and the push to ...

Last month's beta version of Chrome has become the new stable build, bringing a large JavaScript performance improvement to hundreds of millions of Chrome users. While it's a bit meaningless at this stage, this means the stable channel is now version 10, which first appeared at the end of 2010. The main addition to this version is Crankshaft, a new version of the V8 JavaScript engine that ...

After originally reporting on the introduction of WebKit2 back in April 2010, it looks like it will finally be rolled out with OS X Lion, in a new version of the Safari Web browser. WebKit2, rather than being a whole new rendering engine, is a layer around WebKit that adds more stability, security and speed -- not entirely unlike the Google Chrome sandbox, which is also strapped onto a version ...

After only a few weeks in beta testing, Avast 6 is now ready for download. If you're looking for a good, free antivirus program for your Windows computer, Avast is still one of the best options -- and version 6 adds one very powerful defense mechanism. Sandboxing -- which allows your computer to run unknown and untrusted programs in an isolated spece where they can't harm your operating ...

Trustware's BufferZone was an early entrant into the desktop sandboxing arena. Sandboxing, of course, is the security-by-isolation system which has since been built into apps like Google Chrome and Adobe Reader X. Recently, Trustware launched a promotion and gave away BufferZone Pro for free -- and now the company is making the discount permanent. From now on, BufferZone Pro will be freeware. ...

Native Client (NaCl), Google's attempt at bridging the gap between pure JavaScript Web apps and installed programs, creeps ever closer to a stable release, and ultimate inclusion in other browsers, including Firefox. The plug-in, which allows the browser to safely execute native compiled code, has retired its NPAPI interface in favor of Pepper (PPAPI), and now has a much-improved SDK. NaCl, as ...

In an odd move that must surely raise concerns of lucidity, the Trend Micro chairman, Steve Chang, has claimed that the open-source nature of Android makes it easier to hack than iOS: "Android is open-source, which means the hacker can also understand the underlying architecture and source code." News just in: the open-source-is-less-secure myth was dispelled more than a decade ago. Take a ...

Adobe Flash remains a popular attack vector for malware authors. In addition to a seemingly never-ending supply of security flaws, bad guys know that people who use Flash often ignore the updater's prompts. That leaves users in an even more tenuous position, since they're still vulnerable to attacks Adobe has already patched. That's one big advantage to Google Chrome's internal Flash plug-in. ...

SteadyState is one of my favorite free utilities from Microsoft, and it was one of the first apps I ever wrote about here at Download Squad. Now, however, it appears as though the sun is setting on SteadyState: Microsoft has announced that support will be ending on June 30th, 2011. That, of course, simply means that actual support for SteadyState will come to an end -- don't expect to get ...

You could almost mistake The Chromium Blog's opening paragraph as bittersweet reflection on Google's rumble in the jungle with China. It's actually a good post on the basics of vulnerability exploitation and malware installation, but basically it surmises that plug-ins are the weakest link in Internet security today. Firefox already checks your plug-ins at start-up, and Mozilla has a Plugin ...

One of the major draws of Chrome is that it runs in a sandbox, making it one of the most secure ways you can browse the Web today. The catch is that people have to use Chrome to gain that extra measure of security, and let's face facts here -- Chrome and Chromium only hold a fraction of the market share that Firefox has earned over the years. Thankfully, Firefox users on OS X now have the ...

Comodo receives much more recognition for their firewall software than they do for anything else they develop, but that hasn't stopped them from venturing outside their comfort zone. In October 2009, they released Comodo Internet Security -- which bundled their popular firewall app with free antivirus defense. It was a good freshman effort, though their AV engine (developed in-house) wasn't ...

Many of you already know about sandboxing and why it's useful. For those of you who don't, a sandbox (wikipedia article) provides an added layer of security on your computer by running unfamiliar code in an isolated space. Security threats change rapidly, and it's become virtually impossible to stay ahead of the bad guys (or even hot on their heels). Sandboxing can help level the playing field. ...

System admins and technicians deal with a number of frustrations in our daily work. One of the biggest: desktops that keep getting misused, abused, and trashed as a result of carelessness, malice, or a lack of common sense. Sandboxing programs are a great way to prevent these kinds of headaches. What do they do? In simple terms, they prevent applications from making changes to your system. It's ...

Welcome to Googleholic -- your bi-weekly fix of everything Google! In this edition: Google named world's most powerful brand iGoogle gets developer sandbox Google celebrates Earth Day WHOIS OneBox graces Google search once again ...