Running IE and MS Office in Wine or using sandboxie

I have a friend that constantly keeps having viruses on his computer. The main problem is that he's using Windows with 2-3 antiviruses but he keeps opening unverified Powerpoint files and binaries under Windows.

I think the alternative would be to install Ubuntu on that computer and to install IE and MS Office in Wine.

I want to ask what are my chances of succesfuly achieving this considering that Wine support is limited.

I also want to ask if Wine is in any way a sandbox in terms of security. I haven't fiddled much with it, normally if I want to run Windows programs I just fire up a Virtualbox but I can't ask of my friend to do that since he's a basic user.

Also has anyone tried sandboxie ? Is it effective ? Does it actually deliver what it promises ?

If anyone tried this before I'd appreciate some feedback on this.

average

Posted 2013-02-01T04:06:50.693

Reputation: 81

8Multiple real–time virus scanners are never a good idea. Install a single good AV (such as MSE, which is free), keep it updated and use other on–demand scanners as required. I don't think you're going to have any luck with Wine, but if you're gonna install Linux anyway, why bother with IE and Office when there are perfectly decent free alternatives available? – Karan – 2013-02-01T05:33:56.067

because the freely available alternatives are not fully compatible in terms of parsing/rendering proprietary file formats. – average – 2013-02-01T09:20:04.863

I've heard good things about sandboxie, but never tried it myself. It's probably a better solution than trying to run WINE as a security provider. – Marcus Chan – 2013-02-03T07:21:52.783

Honestly, your friend doesn't sound like he is technically savvy enough to a) use an (even preconfigured) WINE setup without confusion problems, and b) need it at all. If his primary tasks are office apps and web browsing, and he keeps getting viruses, he'd probably do just fine with a native Ubuntu/LibreOffice install. LibreOffice has decent interoperability with PowerPoint etc. If he absolutely needs MS Office, well, there's the web-based version now that you can pay for. You could also get him a mac/hackintosh and run Office on that. – Zac B – 2013-02-03T19:25:19.883

Zac that's a very interesting suggestion. May I ask what the state of viruses is on the Mac ? I have worked a bit on it. I haven't heard any people complaining about viruses on Mac. What is your oppinion on that. I might just buy a Mac ... I'm also curious if I could map the keys as they are on Windows for my friend, because he's not going to learn the weird keyboard layout Mac has. So if the virus scene is on Mac like it is on Linux, and there is a way to get a PC-like keyboard layout for it, I would definitely consider this option. Also, how is the Office suite on Mac ? I never tried it – average – 2013-02-03T19:42:06.890

The mac is quite immature in terms of both malware and antimalware / OS security, but as it gets more popular, more malware is being written. A naive user with a downloading habit is probably better off on a mac at present, but I don't know how long that will remain true. Plus of course he won't be able to run his random windows binaries on a mac :) – Hugh Allen – 2013-02-04T00:12:09.803

yeah so the only thing my friend needs is MS Office compatibility and IE (because of some app he's using that only works under IE because of some activex probably) – average – 2013-02-04T02:26:05.490

2If you need ActiveX (and tbh if you do, you might want to change that) - then Windows is really your only option, and I think a sandbox is a more realistic way to secure that than trying to virtualize anything – Marcus Chan – 2013-02-04T09:57:01.200

Answers

I use Sandboxie and it seems to deliver what it promises : running in a discardable sandbox, which is a sort of a shadow version of the hard disk.

As far as running IE it should be fine, but for running Office your friend might get in difficulties with the fact that documents written by sandboxed programs will by default be written to the sandbox.

Sandboxie does ask whether to write document files to their real directory, and when clearing-out the contents of the sandbox it does offer a list of the files that it offers to salvage by copying to the real folder.

Sandboxie can also have exceptions configured for folders and file-types, so you can configure it properly for your friend. More than one sandbox can be created, with different permissions for each. Desktop shortcuts that sandbox installed programs are also possibile.

Its free version seems good enough, although with some limitations and some small annoyances like a nag-screen.

I have never tried to see if Sandboxie can resist against a determined virus, although they do advertise themselves in that way.

harrymc

Posted 2013-02-01T04:06:50.693

Reputation: 306 093

If you want to go the Linux route, the easiest way to run Office and IE is a program called PlayOnLinux.

PlayOnLinux is a front-end for Wine and Winetricks, but its main offering is pre-made scripts to install common programs. It's not limited to games, either - just pop in your Office disc and click through the simple menu trees to install. Scripts are included for all versions of Microsoft Office and IE as well as lots of other software. It's already in the Ubuntu repositories, so you can add it with a simple sudo apt-get playonlinux.

If you're running a Windows program in Wine, the chances that the Linux computer hosting will be infected are practically nil. At worst, you would have to delete the Office or IE virtual drive and re-install (incredibly easy with POL).

WindowsEscapist

Posted 2013-02-01T04:06:50.693

Reputation: 1 828