sandbox my dongle

[puppyX]

I use PM portable 2 or 3 times a week with a USB mobile broadband dongle on a win 7 PC. Now that win 7 is EOL is there a way to isolate PM and /or the dongle while running on win 7 ?

[Moonchild]

Use a proper packet-filtering firewall restricting wild network packets and you should be good. Pale Moon will be kept up-to-date and if that is what you use to access the 'net, then you have nothing to worry about.

[John connor]

The sky isn't falling because you don't have those precious updates from Redmond. Trust me. I don't even use updates and have never been hacked or gotten malware. I even have a nettop in the kitchen that serves as a FTP server who's storage is a SD card that runs XP. Never been hacked or gotten malware as well. No, it's not luck, it's all on how you browse the Internet, what you download and the proactive steps you can take. I already said this in another post. Use Sandboxie for your browser. It is now freeware. Scan all, and I mean ALL downloads at VirusTotal and use your favorite cloning program and clone the PC to an external air gaped USB drive. If disaster were to strike you can pull out the clone and it'll be like nothing ever happened.

Now I really don't understand the isolation thing. At the network level or hardware level? Plus, if PM isn't running don't worry about it. If you really want to go all paranoid then use Shadow Defender. But that requires you to whitelist your common working paths like the downloads folder, pictures folder, etc. If you want to install a program or something else, you'll have to pull the sandboxing of the OS, reboot and then install the program. If you do it while Shadow Defender is running it won't stick. Neither will malware. That's its purpose.

[puppyX]

Only noticed this reply today. Thanks for the info.

No, it's not luck, it's all on how you browse the Internet, what you download and the proactive steps you can take.

I agree. Have downloaded sandboxie. I've become complacent with win 7 lately even though I'm migrating to Linux. Windows has started kicking up a fuss with save points/blue screens following the EOL win 7 updates.

[puppyX]

Windows has started kicking up a fuss with save points/blue screens following the EOL win 7 updates.

Turned out to be the Intel Turbo Memory Controller. Disabled device and all is well with returning from sleep/hibernate on Thinkpad x200. Nothing to do with PM but thought I'd add it as a reminder for myself.

[Clasof56]

Yes, excellect advice...Sandboxie. I have used it for a decade as free version with zero problems....then the Pro version became free and i tried it and immediately knew it was better. having multiple sandboxes going for browsing or mail or banking is just sooo easy and so safe. still on win7pro with no updates for a few years with never a problem. cant think of a good reason why i would change...7 is like an old friend and PM portable works great.

[puppyX]

.7 is like an old friend and PM portable works great.

win 7 pro has been my main OS for approx 9 years. Sandboxie newbie and so far it seems good. Managed to sandbox mobile broadband & PM portable in a Win 7 desktop PC. Hadn't noticed the pro version is free so thanks for heads up.