TaskExplorer 1.7.0 introduces one of the most substantial upgrades the application has received in years, modernizing the UI stack, improving driver robustness, expanding cross-architecture compatibility, and adding many new capabilities.
This version replaces the previous helper-process architecture with the newly introduced TaskHelper.exe, which now acts as the dedicated worker and service component. By offloading these responsibilities from TaskExplorer.exe itself, overall stability and responsiveness during privileged operations are significantly improved.

A major focus of this release is the KernelIsolator (KSI) driver. The process-protection logic has been thoroughly redesigned and no longer depends on DynData. This architectural improvement allows a large portion of the driver’s security features to operate even without up-to-date symbol information, increasing reliability across different Windows builds. Additionally, ARM64 compatibility issues that previously caused crashes in the protection layer have been resolved.

The user interface has undergone a notable modernization. TaskExplorer now uses Qt 6.8.3 together with Windows 7 compatibility patches, and the settings interface has been redesigned with sidebar-based navigation and icons instead of simple tabs. DPI scaling options have been added so the application renders correctly on displays of any density. The QWT graphing library has been upgraded to version 6.3, bringing smoother and more reliable charting.

Many new data columns and inspection tools have been added throughout the application. Memory view now includes an “original pages” column. Thread inspection provides the actual base priority, RPC usage, COM flags, and LXSS thread ID. Processes can now display CPU affinity and LXSS PID. Module view shows enclave information such as base address, size, and enclave type. A new window-finder tool allows users to drag a target onto any window to immediately locate its owning process, and the service view now provides a direct “open process” action.

Several behavioral improvements streamline navigation: the handle, module, and memory search windows now allow you to open the corresponding owning process simply by double-clicking a result. Additional security-related metadata has been added to the handle viewer, which has also been moved into its own dedicated section. The “run as” subsystem has been updated for better reliability.

Multiple bugs have been corrected, including a long-standing crash in the handle view, incorrect coloring of token privileges, ARM64 driver protection failures, and a corruption issue in the internal socket-list structures that was causing a memory leak.

With this release, support for 32-bit Windows has been removed, allowing development to focus on modern 64-bit platforms and ensuring the long-term maintainability of the driver and UI codebase.

TaskExplorer 1.7.0 is a major milestone that improves stability, security, performance, and usability across all supported systems, while laying the groundwork for future enhancements.

Download: https://github.com/DavidXanatos/TaskExplorer/releases/tag/v1.7.0

Black Friday Week extended!

Due to the great success of the Black Friday Week, we are extending the discounts through the entire
Cyber Monday Week!
Home and Personal supporter certificates remain 25% off.
Existing users continue to benefit even more: Renewals and Upgrades stay reduced by a full
30%.
If you’ve been considering getting a license or upgrading your setup,
this extended promotion is the perfect opportunity to support ongoing development and unlock advanced features.

Reminder: MajorPrivacy early-adopter offer

A quick reminder that our new security and privacy tool MajorPrivacy is now available.
To celebrate its upcoming first stable release, early adopters still receive a full
50% discount.
Try the latest public BETA, secure the reduced price, and help shape the future of MajorPrivacy with your feedback.

This is a maintenance release, it updates TaskExplorer to the latest PHlib and fixing a few bugs.

Download: https://github.com/DavidXanatos/TaskExplorer/releases/tag/v1.6.6

MajorPrivacy 0.99.5 introduces several usability and security improvements. The settings panel now includes new checkboxes for minimizing the application to the tray and for enabling single-click behavior on the tray icon, allowing users to tailor interaction to their preference. Process rules have been enhanced with parent-child enforcement, providing stricter control over how applications are allowed to spawn and interact. It is now also possible to import and export individual rules as well as enclaves with their associated rules, making backup, migration, and sharing significantly more convenient.

This update relocates the firewall reset action into the service to ensure a more consistent and reliable execution across all privilege levels. Several issues have been resolved, including a failure to run MajorPrivacy as Administrator caused by process protection, and a problem with QtSingleApplication that could lead to multiple instances launching when started from an elevated context.

Download: https://github.com/xanasoft/MajorPrivacy/releases/tag/v0.99.5

This update of Sandboxie-Plus enhances usability across the file panel and configuration interface. The file panel now supports an integrated search and filter function, which can be opened using Ctrl + F, allowing users to quickly locate items within large folder views. Additionally, a dedicated user interface option has been introduced for the ProtectAdminOnly=y/n setting, making this security configuration accessible without manual INI edits.

The release also addresses an issue in the 32-bit SbieDll.dll where SbieApi_QueryDrvInfo could trigger an incorrect certificate warning. This problem has been fully resolved to ensure accurate driver state reporting and eliminate unnecessary alerts.

Download: https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/releases/tag/v1.16.8

Black Friday Week starts early!

Sandboxie-Plus Black Friday discounts are live starting today.
Home and Personal supporter certificates are now 25% off for a limited time.
Existing users benefit even more: Renewals and Upgrades are reduced by a full 30%.
If you’ve been thinking about getting a license or upgrading your setup,
now is the perfect moment to support ongoing development and unlock advanced features.

New product pre-launch: MajorPrivacy

At the same time, we are excited to announce that our new security and privacy tool
MajorPrivacy is now available for purchase. To celebrate its upcoming first stable release, early adopters receive a full 50% discount.
Get in early, try the latest public BETA, secure the reduced price, and help shape the future of MajorPrivacy with your feedback.

Several usability improvements have been implemented. MajorPrivacy components can now reliably browse protected or blocked folders, allowing the rule editor to function correctly in all scenarios. The UI will also no longer display popups when an unsigned DLL fails to load into MP's UI, such as third-party shell extensions invoked through file picker dialogs. Interaction behavior has been aligned with Sandboxie, meaning the single- and double-click handling is now consistent across both products, and middle-clicking once will open or hide the notification window. In addition, the software ID has been changed from MP-Beta to simply MP. Because of this adjustment, the older certificate files bundled with previous installers are no longer valid, and users should use the built-in trial certificate retrieval function to obtain a new 90-day certificate.

This update also resolves several issues, including a problem in the first-start wizard where firewall rules were not configured correctly. Furthermore, missing button localization strings have been added to the translation files, ensuring a more complete and consistent interface in all supported languages.

Download: https://github.com/xanasoft/MajorPrivacy/releases/tag/v0.99.4

This release of Sandboxie-Plus introduces a small but useful enhancement and several important refinements. A new checkbox for the “NoRestartOnPCA=y” setting has been added to the box options, giving users direct control without manual editing. The default value for “UseWin32kHooks” has been reverted from “y” back to “n” after it was found to cause compatibility issues with certain applications. Additionally, named syscall invocation under WoW64 has been improved to ensure more robust operation in mixed-architecture scenarios.

A significant focus of this update is stability, with several critical fixes in both user-mode and driver-level components. The “OpenWndStation=y” option now works correctly again when used together with “SandboxieAllGroup=y”.

Most importantly, this update includes fixes that directly affect the driver’s stability. A flaw that could lead to incorrect driver responses during certificate parsing and driver-info queries has been resolved, and a potential handle leak in SbieDll.dll involving SbieApi_DeviceHandle has been fixed as documented in issue #5097. These corrections eliminate scenarios that, under certain conditions, could have contributed to resource exhaustion or triggered system instability, reducing the risk of potential BSODs and improving overall reliability of the sandboxie.

Download: https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/releases/tag/v1.16.7

Version 0.99.2 of MajorPrivacy introduces several usability and management improvements aimed at streamlining rule handling and automation. The update adds a new GUI autostart option, allowing MajorPrivacy to launch automatically with Windows for more seamless protection. It also introduces rule presets, enabling users to quickly enable or disable predefined sets of rules and tweaks with a single action, greatly simplifying configuration management. In addition, a new mechanism has been implemented to automatically clean up old Windows Firewall rules that were created from templates, helping keep the system’s rule base organized and efficient.

This release also refines the handling of firewall rule change approvals and rejections, ensuring smoother interaction and more reliable behavior during user decisions. The notification window display has been improved as well, offering clearer and more consistent visual feedback during runtime events.

Download https://github.com/xanasoft/MajorPrivacy/releases/tag/v0.99.2

This release delivers several important fixes and a key compatibility improvement to enhance the overall reliability and user experience of Sandboxie-Plus. A issue affecting Windows 7 users introduced in 1.16.5 has been resolved, ensuring that the program can once again establish a proper connection to the driver on this platform. Compatibility with recent Firefox Nightly builds (version 146) has also been addressed, allowing the browser to run correctly within the sandbox environment. This version also introduces a change to the default configuration: the UseWin32kHooks=y option is now enabled by default for all sandboxed processes. This adjustment significantly improves compatibility with Electron-based applications, reducing issues that some users previously experienced.

Overall, Sandboxie-Plus 1.16.6 / 5.71.6 continues the effort to refine system compatibility, stability, and performance across both legacy and modern Windows systems.

Download: https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/releases/tag/v1.16.6