Sandboxie-Plus is constantly using about 2% of CPU, whereas Sandboxie-Classic uses about 0% CPU

[Brifien]

Hello,

I noticed that Sandboxie-Plus (SandMan.exe) is constantly using about 2% of CPU, event when no sandboxed application is running. When a sandboxed application is running, the CPU usage remains the same (about 2%).

I check with Sandboxie-Classic, and the CPU usage is nearly 0%, without and with sandboxed running application.

It seems then that Sandboxie-Plus (SandMan.exe) is using significantly more CPU than Sandboxie-Classic.

Sandboxie-Plus
(without sandboxed application)

(with sandboxed application)

Sandboxie-Classic

Note that Sandboxie was running only for a few minutes when I took this screenshots, reason why the accumulated CPU time is still low.

I observed this behavior on previous versions too, but these screenshots were done with:

• Sandboxie-Plus-x64-v1.0.2.0.0
• Sandboxie-Classic-x64-v5.55.2.0

Operating system: Windows 10 Pro 21H2.

Is it expected that Sandboxie-Plus (SandMan.exe) uses "so much" CPU, compared to Sandboxie-Classic?

Thanks.

[DavidXanatos]

Its expected to use more as its Qt based and that has more overhead than a 20 year old MFC application, but 2% on a modern PC seams excessive.

[isaak654]

CPU spikes of 2% can be reached in idle after opening SandMan.exe, while the CPU is dropped to a constant 0,94% of usage if you reduce it as tray icon.

If you open some menu entry like Help -> About the Qt Framework, the CPU will raise temporarily to a maximum of 5%.

[Brifien]

I have measured more "statistics".

I started Sandboxie for 5 minutes (300 seconds) and checked the accumulated CPU time with Process Explorer. On my system, the results are the followings.

Sandboxie-Plus (SandMan.exe)

• Sandboxie-Plus (SandMan.exe) open:

  • CPU time: ~30 seconds
  • CPU usage: 10% (30s CPU time / 300s runtime)
    

• Sandboxie-Plus (SandMan.exe) reduced as tray icon:

  • CPU time: ~30 seconds
  • CPU usage: 10% (30s CPU time / 300s runtime)
    

Results are more or less identical. But, as mentioned by isaak654, on Windows Task Manager it seems that CPU is less on tray.

Sandboxie-Classic (SbieCtrl.exe)

• Sandboxie-Classic (SbieCtrl.exe) open:
  • CPU time: ~1.3 seconds
  • CPU usage: 0.4% (1.3s CPU time / 300s runtime)

BUT, it seems that most of the CPU time was used by Sandboxie-Classic (SbieCtrl.exe) when the application starts. Then, CPU time stays nearly unchanged:

• After 4 minutes: CPU time: ~1.281 seconds
  

• After 5 minutes: CPU time: ~1.343 seconds
  

• =>So, the additional CPU usage is more realistically 0.1% ( (1.343-1.281)s CPU time / 60 s runtime)

[isaak654]

But, as mentioned by isaak654, on Windows Task Manager it seems that CPU is less on tray.

Nope, I used Process Hacker 2.39.

[isaak654]

Originally posted by @DavidXanatos in #post-3056238

well its always looking if new boxed processes were started t be able to change the icon on demand but when its minimized it should not use much spu

What about this?

If you open some menu entry like Help -> About the Qt Framework, the CPU will raise temporarily to a maximum of 5%.

[typpos]

I think this is a very old problem. The issue scales with the number of sandboxes registered. For example, 200 empty boxes with SB+ in tray draws ~2% processor time, and (idle) open SB+ over 5%. From (ancient code review) memory, I think it's nothing to do with the default Qt event loop. Rather, SB+ actively polls some configuration info repeatedly from the driver. Maybe here:

Sandboxie/SandboxiePlus/SandMan/SandMan.cpp

Line 738 in 9cf189b

void CSandMan::timerEvent(QTimerEvent* pEvent)

(Apologies, I may be wrong with this. It's been a long time).

Regardless, it would be great to have this fixed. If CPU goes above some low %, the fans kick in 😅

Example; 200 all-empty sandboxie boxes. 4 Core / 8 thread CPU:

Tray icon / Minimized:

UI visible and idle:

[isaak654]

In 1.0.3, the startTimer value in SandMan.cpp was raised from 250 to 1000, see 9cf189b

That might help a bit...

[olliebean]

Because of this, I've set SB Plus not to close to the tray. I open it when I need it from a pinned taskbar icon, and it's also set to open automatically when I run a sandboxed program. This way, when not in use, it consumes 0% CPU.

[isaak654]

This seems improved in latest versions.