New firewall for Comcast subscribers

Any brave souls who surf with Comcast played around yet with the new Comcast Security Manager which includes a firewall (not the McAfee that Comcast has always offered)?

Acadia

EDIT: http://www.comcast.com/Support/Corp1/FAQ/Faq2_251_0.html

 

I recalled seeing something surfing around - and relocated it. My read, from here is that they use the Authentium ESP package. Haven't tried it. I may take a peek.

Blue

 

OK, I'm taking at least a brief look at it.

The initial securitymgr.exe download is just a front end to the main download and installer. When you launch it, there's a roughly 28 MB download that follows.

Installation is easy. To be safe, I uninstalled NOD32 and Outpost Pro prior to starting the installation. The first thing to note - and this is obvious from the Comcast site - in contrast to the full Authentium ESP package, there's no AV here - it's the firewall, spyware/pop-up/etc. control, content filtering package. In the about Security Manager screen, they note that it contains proprietary property of Pest Patrol Inc - I assume that's where the spyware/etc. component comes from, on the Security Check screen its referred to as SpyCatcher.

Each of the components can be independently enabled or disabled.

I'd term the parental content filter fairly aggressive and indiscriminate - or course that seems the main problem with most of them that are available. For example, choose the low filtering setting (target age 13-17) and it will filter most things desired (e.g. pornographic sites) as well as genuinely useful informational sites related to sexuality or other selected categories. You are allowed to enter specific exceptions to the filter - and exceptions can be positive (allow a disallowed site) or negative (block an allowed site). Younger ages add increasingly more restrictive policies. General filter categories at the default level are Sex, Gambling, Weapons, Hate, Drugs, Dating for 13-17 (low filtering); add Webmail and Chat for 9-12 (medium filtering). Each category can be enabled or disabled within a given default range. High filtering (children 9 and under) uses a different scheme based on allowed general categories (there's a lot of them) - again, these can be customized within the basic filter constraints by enabling/disabling any listed category in the filter.

The firewall is bare bones. Rather than describe it, I'll give a screenshot of the basic rule screen below. There are a couple of other screens, one to set basic levels (off, medium, high, block) and another that has a listing of application rules. Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Outlook, Netmeeting, ftp, MS Messenger, and Windows Update manager have default allow states. Application based rules are basically at the allow/block level.

I guess this package is better than nothing. It is bare bones, but for many users, that's precisely how complicated it should be. For myself, NOD32 and Outpost Pro will be back in service in about 15 minutes.

Blue

 

Wow, they gave them a rule based firewall? I bet they are not offering any direct support either... Comcast is asking for trouble when giving a rule based firewall to beginners....

 

You can do things on an application basis. I've uninstalled it, so I can't do additional testing, and I may have missed some details, but the basic operation seems to be that an alert flag is indicated - and you can then bring up a configuration dialog screen. From here you can allow that application from that point on.

To your main comment though, the whole package seems a little awkward to me, especially to someone timid about things, so I think you're right, it could be a support nightmare. They do offer support. At least the basics - browser/e-mail/etc. are allowed by default from the get go - that will probably eliminate 90% of the first day calls.

Blue

 

I hate Security Manager. I recently got rid of Comcast High Speed Internet and tried to uninstall Security Manager. When I use Add/Remove Programs, I get a message that says, "A previous installation or upgrade requires a reboot to finish. Please reboot your computer before uninstalling or repairing Security Manager." Well, rebooting does nothing. I can reboot a hundred times and I still get the same damn message. I even called Comcast and everything they tried didn't work.

If anyone has any ideas to help me remove this stupid program, please let me know. (private e-mail address edited out - Blue.)
It seems as though this program is interfering with my current internet provider, or atleast that's what they're saying.

 

Yo, CB, you should edit your post and remove your email address; prime target for harvester bots.

Acadia

 

kbuddy

 

CB u should see if u can delete the folders and the registry information if not get ready for a fresh install

 

What would you guys suggest? Stick with my Mcafee FW or use this new Comcast Security Manager??

-J

 

DON'T DO IT! The Comcast Security Manager is a joke. Stick with a reliable firewall and blocker such as Symantec, SpyBot, Ad-Aware, etc.