I mentioned earlier this week that I would post some of what’s new in Version 1903 of Windows 10. (Apologies to my Mac readers – I’ll have info for you once Apple announces changes for Mac sometime in June.)

One of the changes in version 1903 is called the Windows Sandbox. The sandbox is available in the Pro and Enterprise versions of Windows 10 but not the Home version. Note: not sure which version of Windows 10 you have? Here’s an easy way to find out. In the search field on the taskbar (or right-click on the Start Menu and choose Search) type “winver” without the quotes. Hit the keyboard Enter key. The About Windows window appears and the version will be listed there. If it only reads Windows 10 then it is the Home edition.

The sandbox is not on by default. I will explain in the next post how to turn it on. For this post, I just want to give you an idea of what it does.

The Windows Sandbox allows you to install a program, run it and test it to see if it works properly. Once you’re done testing it, you can exit from the Sandbox and the program will be gone. You can do that without affecting the rest of your computer. If you test the program and there are no problems, you can then install it normally. Theoretically, you could install a virus or malware in the Sandbox to see what it does, and when you close the Sandbox, all traces of it will be gone. (I don’t really recommend that you do this.)