Isolated/protected execution environment?
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I have a small game executable (not my game) that, when I close it down, opens my default browser with the game's maker's web site. Presumably it is just opening an http and Windows 11 handles it from there. Is there a way to prevent this from happening? —either to enclose the app's environment from the outside or to create an isolated environment that then executes the game (or some other way)? It would seem a little weird to me if I couldn't prevent that from happening to a specific Windows process. Windows provides a vast array of services to apps, but in terms of security, it might make sense to be able to prohibit certain operations for a process at the OS level. Does Windows provide any control for this?
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I have a small game executable (not my game) that, when I close it down, opens my default browser with the game's maker's web site. Presumably it is just opening an http and Windows 11 handles it from there. Is there a way to prevent this from happening? —either to enclose the app's environment from the outside or to create an isolated environment that then executes the game (or some other way)? It would seem a little weird to me if I couldn't prevent that from happening to a specific Windows process. Windows provides a vast array of services to apps, but in terms of security, it might make sense to be able to prohibit certain operations for a process at the OS level. Does Windows provide any control for this?
Does Windows provide any control for this? No, not directly. I don't know of any O/S that does. If the app is just shelling out to a URL, you really cannot stop an app from doing that. The shell will take commands from anything and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Firewall rules will not help because the URL is being launched by the shell and the browser is the registered handler for HTTP/HTTPS. Your game isn't involved in handling the URL itself so there's no process-based firewall rule that will prevent the launch of it. Writing up a rule to prevent access to the URL or IP will still bring up a browser window, but with a failure message.
Asking questions is a skill CodeProject Forum Guidelines Google: C# How to debug code Seriously, go read these articles.
Dave Kreskowiak -
I have a small game executable (not my game) that, when I close it down, opens my default browser with the game's maker's web site. Presumably it is just opening an http and Windows 11 handles it from there. Is there a way to prevent this from happening? —either to enclose the app's environment from the outside or to create an isolated environment that then executes the game (or some other way)? It would seem a little weird to me if I couldn't prevent that from happening to a specific Windows process. Windows provides a vast array of services to apps, but in terms of security, it might make sense to be able to prohibit certain operations for a process at the OS level. Does Windows provide any control for this?
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Does Windows provide any control for this? No, not directly. I don't know of any O/S that does. If the app is just shelling out to a URL, you really cannot stop an app from doing that. The shell will take commands from anything and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Firewall rules will not help because the URL is being launched by the shell and the browser is the registered handler for HTTP/HTTPS. Your game isn't involved in handling the URL itself so there's no process-based firewall rule that will prevent the launch of it. Writing up a rule to prevent access to the URL or IP will still bring up a browser window, but with a failure message.
Asking questions is a skill CodeProject Forum Guidelines Google: C# How to debug code Seriously, go read these articles.
Dave Kreskowiak