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Windows Sandbox will enable safe isolation and testing of suspicious programs in Windows 10 19H1 - Notebookcheck.net

Posted: 19 Dec 2018 06:12 AM PST

Windows 10 19H1 will feature offer a native Sandbox. (Source: Microsoft)

Microsoft will soon be introducing Windows Sandbox as an optional feature in upcoming builds of Windows 10 19H1. Windows Sandbox offers a secure, isolated, and disposable environment to test out suspicious programs and prevent them from affecting the main OS installation. Windows Sandbox will be offered in Professional and Enterprise SKUs of Windows 10 and does not require any additional addons or VHDs to run.

The upcoming version of Windows 10 codenamed 19H1 will offer a new optional feature called Windows Sandbox. Windows Sandbox will allow you to run programs and test them in an isolated temporary desktop environment. This is great for those who are who are cautious about trying new or suspicious programs lest they cause issues with the main OS installation. Windows Sandbox is native and users do not need to download any additional software or virtual hard disks (VHDs) to get going.

Sandboxing is not new to Windows and many users will know of the program Sandboxie that offers a way to run EXEs in isolation. Windows Sandbox is similar in purpose to Sandboxie, but is much more advanced. Essentially, Windows Sandbox offers the full functionality of Windows 10 in a virtual desktop environment that is totally isolated from the main OS. Every instance of Windows Sandbox presents a fresh brand-new desktop and applications that run within this neither persist their states nor can affect the host. This means, you can safely execute any suspicious program, get the job done, and close the Sandbox instance to permanently discard every data of the session. When you restart Windows Sandbox, you will be presented with a new desktop instance once again.

Microsoft says that Windows Sandbox uses Hyper-V for hardware-based virtualization and the Sandbox instance uses its own integrated kernel scheduler, memory management, and virtual GPU. Giving the Sandbox its own scheduler enables the host OS to treat the Sandbox as a normal process or an app instead of a virtual machine, which Microsoft says will make it more responsive. And since it's a process, the host OS can decide whether to reclaim memory allocated to the Sandbox and also optimize battery usage on laptops.

Windows Sandbox will also support graphics virtualization if the GPU and drivers are compatible with WDDM 2.5 or higher. This enables the host OS to dynamically allocate GPU resources depending on the load. Just like a virtual machine, you can also save snapshots of the Sandbox instance to disk so that it can resume faster without having to perform a clean boot every time.

Microsoft lists the following requirements for enabling Windows Sandbox, which is slated debut in Windows 10 Build 18305 —

Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise build 18305 or later
AMD64 architecture
Virtualization capabilities enabled in BIOS
At least 4GB of RAM (8GB recommended)
At least 1 GB of free disk space (SSD recommended)
At least 2 CPU cores (4 cores with hyperthreading recommended)

It remains to be seen how well Windows Sandbox can be integrated into regular workflows and whether app data from the Sandbox can be saved to the host drive or not. Nevertheless, this feature will be highly welcomed by enterprise customers and also provides a way for Microsoft to remove the burden of legacy components from consumer versions of the OS in effort to further streamline it for all device types.

For a more in-depth look into the underpinnings of this technology, check out the Windows Kernel Internals Blog linked below.

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Japanese Charts: Smash Bros. Ultimate Continues To Dominate As Switch Consoles Fly Off Shelves - Nintendo Life

Posted: 19 Dec 2018 06:00 AM PST

Japanese chart figures are now in for 10th December - 16th December, unsurprisingly revealing that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is still flying high at the very top.

The game shifted another 406,617 physical copies in its second week on the market - a number which most titles could only dream of in their opening weeks - beating PS4 new releases God Eater 3 and Judgment to first place.

Other Nintendo Switch titles are also littering the top ten this week, with various games clinching every spot between fourth and twelfth places this time around. Here's a look at the top 20 (first numbers are this week's sales, followed by total sales in brackets):

1) [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo, 12/07/18) – 406,617 (1,627,152)
2) [PS4] God Eater 3 (Limited Edition Included) (Bandai Namco, 12/13/18) – 150,523 (New)
3) [PS4] Judgment (Sega, 12/13/18) – 148,246 (New)
4) [NSW] Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! (Bundle Editions Included) (Nintendo, 11/16/18) – 108,773 (1,121,020)
5) [NSW] Super Mario Party (Nintendo, 10/05/18) – 97,529 (587,295)
6) [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 29,422 (1,911,174)
7) [NSW] Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Bundle Version Included) (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 27,625 (431,410)
8) [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Bundle Version Included) (Nintendo, 07/21/17) – 27,035 (2,767,712)
9) [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey (Bundle Version Included) (Nintendo, 10/27/17) – 14,417 (1,880,842)
10) [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Limited Edition Included) (Nintendo, 03/03/17) – 13,670 (1,195,951)
11) [NSW] Kirby Star Allies (Nintendo, 03/16/18) – 12,027 (670,296)
12) [NSW] Senran Kagura: Peach Ball & Reflexions Double Pack (Marvelous, 12/13/18) – 10,321 (New)
13) [3DS] Luigi’s Mansion (Nintendo, 11/08/18) – 9,575 (64,375)
14) [NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! (Bandai Namco, 07/19/18) – 8,063 (244,283)
15) [PS4] Battlefield V (Electronic Arts, 11/20/18) – 6,846 (148,170)
16) [3DS] Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (The Pokémon Company, 11/17/17) – 6,665 (1,780,187)
17) [PS4] Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII (SIE, 10/12/18) – 6,536 (492,033)
18) [NSW] Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 03: Vehicle Kit (Nintendo, 09/14/18) – 5,938 (49,389)
19) [NSW] Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo, 07/13/18) – 5,640 (154,936)
20) [NSW] Mario Tennis Aces (Nintendo, 06/22/18) – 5,318 (381,800)

The Switch itself is still selling in vast numbers, too, only missing out on recreating last week's efforts by nine units. PlayStation 4 sales also saw a boost this week as we get closer and closer to the holidays. Here are this week's figures, with last week's in brackets.

1) Switch – 281,213 (281,222)
2) PlayStation 4 – 62,580 (50,450)
3) PlayStation 4 Pro – 19,014 (24,046)
4) New 2DS LL – 14,510 (10,021)
5) New 3DS LL – 5,132 (3,631)
6) PlayStation Vita – 2,647 (2,484)
7) Xbox One X – 847 (117)
8) 2DS – 395 (620)
9) Xbox One – 204 (32)

< Last week's charts

Any surprises this time around? How long do you think Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will stay at the top? Let us know with a comment below.

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