Comodo Firewall

[Demon Cleaner]

Has anyone of you tested the Comodo Firewall yet? Yesterday I read some very positive reviews about it, most say it's the best firewall to date and it's also completely free.

Here (http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php) are some firewall ratings.

[Harrison]

I've not heard of this firewall, but I am on the lookout for a new one as my current firewall license is due to expire soon, and if it is as good as that firewall rating is showing and completely free then I might just give it a go!

Thanks for the link. I will definitely be investigating this further and giving it a test.

[Demon Cleaner]

I will also install it, as currently I'm only using the XP firewall, although nothing ever happened, there's still the firewall on the router.

[Buleste]

I used to use it and whilst it is less annoying than some products and more configurable than others I never thought of it as an outstanding product, more Ronseal.
If your ever looking for free stuff on the web go here (http://www.freebielist.com/) for everything from AV software to shampoo.

[Harrison]

The current one I used, Outpost Pro, is definitely good and keeps itself to itself unless it definitely needs to notify you of a problem, but I think some other firewalls have now overtaken it over the last two years in total security terms.

So I'm going to try this free firewall out on one of my secondary PCs and see how it behaves.

[Buleste]

A quick warning about Outpost Pro. I got rid of this over a year ago and i'm still trying to erradicate traces of it on my sytem. The damn thing just will not uninstall properly and yes i have tried everything. I haven't checked for a while but i think i finally got rid of it the other week.

[Bloodwych]

I've been using Comodo v2.4 for ages now and it's a superb firewall. They're into v3 currently, but I advise waiting a little longer for it to mature as its new features need a little ironing out. v2.4 however, still available for download, is rock solid and very well developed.

It may take a little time to get used to its triple layer protection if you want to get to grips with advanced settings, but if you use it in its default config then it's no harder than any other with only a few pop ups until it learns your system.

I'd never recommend Windows default firewall as it has no outgoing protection, only inbound. What this means is it doesn't bug you with popups, but it allows any software or potential unwanted programs to call home and make a connection. It will inform you of listening (or server) programs, but not those making outgoing connections. However, if you are confident in your surfing habits and are careful what you download and run, it usually suffices as adequate protection although control over programs calling home when they wish is not possible and may compromise your privacy.

Even in its default and most usable state (read min popups), Comodo detects all outgoing connections and passes many tricks and leak tests, more or as well as any other firewall I believe. Even if a program or its parent files have changed (like when you update your browser for instance), a popup requester will ask you to confirm the change is expected.

Comodo v3 has a new feature called defense+ that works a bit like windows defender - monitoring for activity that is suspicious and referring to a safe list of recognized programs, but not scanning random files like a virus checker.

It uses a HIPS system:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrusion-prevention_system

[Sharingan]

Still using the ancient Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.5 here. Requires a bit of tweaking to configure well (it's fully rule-based), but I stick with it because it's so lightweight (uses only 4 MB and next to 0% CPU power) and doesn't come with 1001 'extras' that I don't need. Haven't had an infection or intrusion in, what, 10 years or so since I started using it.

If I ever upgrade from WinXP, I might start exploring some alternatives, like Comodo.

[Harrison]

Well... it's probably more accurate to state that you haven't had any intrusions that you know about! ;) After all, a firewall will only detect and report what it is designs to. Therefore if it can't detect more recent attack types you won't ever know.

[Harrison]

Quick update. I've been using this free firewall for some time now and it seems really good. It doesn't keep throwing up loads of messages every time I use anything that tries to access the internet which is a huge improvement over any other firewalls I've used and it only ever asks about a program the first time it tries to access the internet. So all good. It's malware scanner seems pretty good too, and combined with the spyware scanner built into the Kaspersky virus scanner I also use I think I'm quite well covered at the moment.

[Demon Cleaner]

In the proactive defense, what's the difference between installation mode and previous mode? After the installation I was in installation mode, and it asked me if I wanna switch to previous mode, which I did, but I don't know exactly what it does.

[Harrison]

When you try to install something, the firewall pops up to ask if it should allow the program to run, and it you select that it is an installer then it will ask if you wish to switch to installation mode. Installation mode allows that program to perform whatever tasks it needs on the system files and registry without it continuing to ask for permission every few seconds.

And then once the install completes the firewall will ask if you wish to switch back to the previous mode, which will be however you have the firewall set to work normally before it went into installation mode.

[Demon Cleaner]

Ok, things cleared up :thumbs:

[Harrison]

I've continued to use Comodo for my main firewall since April and haven't had any problem with it until now.

In the last week however I've been having a very serious issue. Whenever I open any application that uses internet access like a browser or email client the firewall component cmdagent.exe jumps to 100% CPU usage, slows the system to a halt and stays using all CPU time for a few minutes before releasing it and everything going back to normal. It also does this when I clear the cache in Firefox 3, and that freezes the system for about 5 minutes.

I've done some searching and discovered other having the same problem with cmdagent.exe and they report that disabling the COMODO logging has fixed the problem. So I just did that, rebooted the system, and so far cmdagent.exe has remained at 0% CPU usage all of the time. I've tested opening email, browsers etc and so far all seems to be back to normal. With overall CPU usage below 30% for all tasks running combined.

I'm going to monitor this more when I am using the computer more tomorrow. Fingers crossed this has fixed the problem.

Has anyone else had this issue with COMODO firewall?

To disable the logs you need to open Comodo and go to the Miscellaneous section, then click on Settings. In the popup window select the Logging tab and tick both the Diable Firewall logging and Disable Defense+ logging. Then reboot for it to take effect.

apparently the CPU usage and slowdown is caused by Comodo trying to log everything being accessed as internet enabled applications load or perform intensive tasks and this creates a very large log file that causes the problem.

I will report more tomorrow once I've tested it more.

[Demon Cleaner]

I'm also still using the firewall but I never had problems you described until now. I'm still using Firefox 2. But I disabled the logging now.

I have a little problem with Avast now though. Since the latest update, whenever I open Outlook Express to receive my mails, I get following error:


The server responded with an error. Account: 'pop.pt.lu', Server: 'pop.pt.lu', Protocol: POP3, Server Response: '-ERR concurrent connections limit in avast exceeded(pass:20, processes:svchost.exe[20]), there is a collision with another program', Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC90

So I stop On-Access protection and I'm able again to get my mails, then start it again. No idea why this happens now. Have to say that I didn't investigate further yet. Only noticed that I have a lot of svchost.exe running.

[Bloodwych]

I'm still using v2.4 after trying out v3.5, so I can't help.

v2.4 is just the better firewall if you ask me. Absolutely rock stable, simple and clear interface, less automatic features, more user controllable, and I've yet to have a bug or performance issue from it running on several machines (my own, brothers, parents etc).

Not sure if v2.4 works under Vista however.

v3.5 tries to do too much and a lot of automatic features make controlling it harder. I'm sure they'll iron it out, but at the moment they seem to still be developing it and having issues.

[Harrison]

Disabling the logging seems to have fixed the CPU usage issues I was having, so fingers crossed it is now sorted out. Given the choice I would always opt for Outpost Pro, but that is not quite expensive and when they are free Firewalls as good as Comodo available I don't see the point in paying for a different one.

I am going to be investigating what Firewalls are currently available though. I like to do this every 6 months or so as new ones are always coming out and bettering older ones. Same is true of Virus checkers. However I've yet to find one as good as Kaspersky which I gladly pay for. I might buy their complete security suite which includes their firewall when I next need to renew my subscription.

[Chewieshmoo]

I use ONLINE ARMOUR combined with THREATFIRE for my online protection. Both great and free.....................

http://www.tallemu.com/free-firewall-protection-software.html

http://www.threatfire.com/

[Harrison]

I've heard of Threatfire as it's now made by PC Tools, for which I use a couple of their other tools Spyway Doctor and registry mechanic. It's meant to be a good Malware scanner.

And I've heard of the name Online Armour, but I haven't read anything about it so don't know how it holds up against other Firewalls.

[Demon Cleaner]

I once bought Kaspersky Internet Security, as what I read about it, it seemed to be the best internet security software on the market, but to be honest, it was a pain in the ass. I configured it during hours and hours, and still got hundreds of pop-ups by it. When installing a game, I had at least 25 pop-ups from Kaspersky, but I didn't want to lower the security.

I think such software variates from system to system, it may work for one person, but for the other it won't. I already got a lot of complaints about Spybot from several friends, I have running it on 3 computers, and it works like a charm. A friend of mine ruined his system with it. Bad luck.

[Harrison]

With anything like Spybot you need to know what you are doing. Firewalls and spyware scanners are still not really designed for the average home user who isn't really that computer literate. Spybot for example can easily flag up some innocent system files, which if you let it remove them will stop the OS loading.

[TiredOfLife]

Haven't noticed that problem before.
My bird has it installed on the school laptop.
Will have to check FF is version 3.

Her main computer did before it died but that had ZoneAlarm on it anyway.