Heres a surefire way of never infecting your main computer. Do not surf the internet.
Now we got that out of the way, I can assure you that no, I mean NO virus scanner/security feature/sandbox/virtual OS can contain malware 100%. Yes I have seen POCs (proof of concept) that have broken out of contained virtualizations (yes, these are rare and hardly ever in the wild unless they are ready to be released from a blackhatter).
People assume that since each VMs looks like separate hardware, it provides the same level of isolation as true physical hardware. Appearances are deceiving. Do NOT be fooled. Guest can pass to Host given the sophistication of malware.
So as a rule of thumb, NEVER engage in hazardous activity even in a virtualized environment! You should ONLY be doing so IF you are on hardware that you don't care about and the O/S has no sensitive data.
POC of sandboxie bypassed recently by adding user accounts
Code:
http://ssj100.fullsubject.com/t370-sandboxie-bypassed
Examples of older fixed vulnerabilities.
Code:
http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?VersionChanges#v_3_40
Code:
http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2009-0006.html
Code:
http://www.darkreading.com/security-services/167801101/security/application-security/217701908/index.html
'Restore' programs such as Comodos Time machine, DeepFreeze, Shadow Defender were exposed a while back because TDL rootkit compromised the system even with the restore feature.
Now, do you understand?
Malware has increasingly more sophisticated and will become more so as time passes. We have already seen malware being VM aware a long time ago.
NOW, malware that are VM aware is NOW STANDARD. Which means malware knows when it is in sandboxie/vmware/virtualbox, etc.. the payload is not delivered so the user THINKS its safe and decides to run it in his host system. Well ralphy, big surprise.
Yes, some of you may argue that exploits like this exists in small numbers. But small numbers as it may, you are still vulnerable and do not let overconfidence be your downfall. Like I said most people are so misinformed that they are 100% safe while in a virtual environment, then they let their guards down.
One of the more safer ways is to Install VMWare through Linux.
Linux > Guest OS in VMware
Since Scrapebox uses IE as a backend, it would be wise to turn off Java and ActiveX. Save the image so you can replace the vmware image instead of reinstalling O/S everytime.
Being safe on VM
1. Make sure to disable any shared folders. Including VMware or any other VM's feature that lets you share folders between the HOST and VM.
2. Do not allow clipboard sharing
3. Use NAT
4. Use Host antivirus and firewall to firewall against it
And NEVER use this computer (yes the whole computer (guest and host) for regular purposes such as banking, FTPing, emailing, website authoring, or anything that can compromise your accounts.
READ from the beginning if you don't understand why this is necessary.
On any hardware which has sensitive data (personal info, bank info, cpanel logins, etc...) you should NEVER download any type of IM software or cracked software to it. EVER.
The 1st and BEST defense for malware protection would be COMMON SENSE.
Which most internet users do not have.