COMODO Firewall Pro 3.0.14.276 Released

Dealing with Defense+ was daunting at first especially when installing apps. I believe this was what screwed up the first AVG install because I didn't understand what was going on. Now I got a handle on it's operation.

Yes, it is definitely not for the average user as during the installation it warns that Defense+ was for expert users. If any indication of past performances, the FW alone would be good enough without the proactive protection.

It is hard to believe that this is free

 

Scared me the first time i had it installed which was why I uninstalled after only a day. After reading the Comodo Forums however, and the recent PC review I thought what the heck. If you leave it on default settings and don't install a lot of things it will run fine. The alerts stopped after i used my normal stuff, and even the Learning Pop Ups have subsided. I was just worried because of what all CPF 3.0 covered as far as PC protection, was that something could go wrong with my PC. Turns out after reading more of the help files this may have been an unneeded fear. Again only time will tell, but so far I have to say that IMO using CPF is perhaps as safe as running something like ThreatFire, which I always liked.

 

If you are setting up a new computer or reinstalling the OS you definitely want to install CPF last, lol.

However it does have a "Clean PC" mode in which it assumes that there are no threats already installed. I haven't tried it but using "Training with Safe" on both FW and Proactive settings. After a couple of hours online the popups are almost nonexistent. It is about like UAC in Vista, at first you see a lot of prompts but as you set your computer up to your liking you hardly ever see them anymore.

I wonder what it would be like on the Paranoid setting

 

An interesting thing I found about Comodo. Even if you disable completely the Defense+, it will still work in some cases, for instance if you try to modify what it calls "protected file" (I tested this using leaktest Runner, and there is an entry in defense+ log, saying it blocked a protected file modification). It is a good thing, don't get me wrong

Edit: About what Diver asked, I installed Comodo without defense+, and, without doing anything else, I ran a few leaktests (ghost, runner...). It appears that because Comodo is trusting IE, it allows sending data without any problems. However I do not belive this is a flaw in Comodo, because any other firewall that trusts IE and without a strong HIPS will act in the same way.

 

Installation mode works fine when you are installing or updating something. The default settings also don't give too many alerts.

 

The previous 32 bit verson was 31 mb and this version is only 9 mb . How is that possible ? what did they do ?
happy new year

 

If you have many installations to do and even clean pc mode seems too "noisy" for you, you can switch to "learning mode" in D+ untill you finish all your installations. In "learning mode", you don't get any pop ups. It's like the "learning mode" in SSM.

 

I think they optimised the safe list.

 

These posts are interesting in this thread in that they are almost positively glowing. So my dissenting opinion must be shocking. Ive used this version of Comodo firewall for a couple weeks before I uninstalled it due to it being a pile of manure.
I found the application's interface to be very slow and awkward to use. It seems to be poorly designed in my opinion. My computer system is not a slouch either.
When starting up with Win XP, CFP took several minutes to start up, leaving my system unprotected during that time.
The popups were unceasing, despite all my efforts to properly configure the rules. Even for applications that I gave 'trusted' status, Comodo would seem to ignore that status at times and spew out several consecutive popups when they start.
CFP 3 would not even pass the leak tests that Comodo provides on its own website.
I give Comodo credit for putting out a free firewall, but it seemed half baked at best to me. I would rather pay for a stable, reliable and effective firewall than a free one that is clunky and ineffective. Online Armor 2 is the one I chose. I happily paid for it since it is in fact a very effective, stable, fast, very configurable, well designed firewall. Its worth every penny in my opinion.

 

One person's manure is someone else's fertilizer

I cannot even try Online Armor as it is not Vista compatible yet. For now CFP is doing ok with me. Though it does add to the bootup time it is nothing near what you have described. As far as leaktests go (and this has been debated in here before) as long as Defense+ and AVG keep the nasties out I don't have to worry about anything "leaking". I keep the Firewall on "Training with Safe Mode" and Defense+ on "Clean PC" mode (I recently changed this from Training with Safe Mode). While there are a few popups from time to time it doesn't bother me. I guess Vista's UAC has trained me to put up with a few popups, lol.

Also it is interesting to see what processes and programs are doing silently in the background. For example today when I opened Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 it was requesting Autoplay to be turned off (which I guess is understandable) and when I exited it turned it back on again. You never see this going on in your normal day-to-day computing. If anything at least I am getting an education out of it.

I am sure Mike makes a great product but for now CFP works for me

 

Here is my boot time courtesy of TweakVista. My specs are in my sig. Of course Vista is slower booting than XP but as you see some of it is due to prefetching (SuperFetch).

 

I chged back to Nod2.7 & tried comodo it's asking questions numerous times when ever I try to install. I like it but I can't answer yes 8 time while trying to install a program & I'm restoring my laptop so I'm getting a bit tired, I'm sure when I'm done it'll quiet down...

 

Larry, in that case you might want to wait and install CFP last. During that time use the Windows firewall. I am sure you tried the Installation Mode but sometimes it still shows popups. I put some things (such as TweakVista) into my Trusted Software Vendors list which alleviates the popups.

I just reinstalled CFP because I noticed that the "What does these settings do?" links wasn't working. This time I chose to use their database of legit programs to decide what accesses the net (pretty much what NIS did in default mode) instead of having me decide it. Network Defense is set to Train in Safe Mode and Proactive Defense in Clean PC mode. This time around things are a lot quieter. I will leave it like this and observe it.

Btw, the links now work

 

I'll give it a try...

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that I turned off the balloon messages (the ones that tell you that such-and-such is being trained).

 

It loads at the kernel level and is active before the log on. The icon in the system tray loads late.

 

Strange that as I am using a pretty low spec XP Home machine (2.8Ghz Celeron processor, 768Mb RAM) and Comodo 3 is fully loaded within around 1 minute of switch on. I can only guess there is a conflict with another program on your PC.

I have Defense + on and get virtually no pop ups except when I am installing a program, (which is solved by switching to installation mode.)

For a free program I think it's awesome.

 

I lack in CF 3 a list with ALL the progs that are running on my pc .... in OA free you can see every prog (even the trusted ones) I don't like the fact that CF trusts some progs whithout asking me if this is OK .... can I change this limited view

 

Ack! Last night before I went to bed I bought up the CPF window to see if I had any files to approve and was stunned to see that it showed I had 768 intrusion attempts in the past three hours

Clearly something wasn't right so I went to uninstall/reinstall but on the next reboot a balloon popped up saying that Windows needed to find a driver which had me . Clicking on the balloon told me that it was searching for a ISATAP driver but the search and install failed. Fed up with this, I performed a Restore (System Restore has been getting a good workout from me lately) to the point before the last CFP install.

Now I am thinking of using Vista's firewall with Vista Firewall Control. I can't see how that can screw up, lol. And for zero-day protection I will put AntiBot back on because it never gave me any trouble.

 

I just found out that by shutting down Comodo and restarting it the Network Defense intrusion counter will reset itself. The more i learn about this firewall/ HIPS, the more I like it. The previous release had quite a few bugs though, and it also had a compatibility issue with Spy Sweeper. Does anyone know if the new release of CPF still has the compatibility problem with Spy Sweeper, and if so why? Thanks.

 

Hi

I am running latest version CFW w/ defense+ off and SS v.5.5. no issues.

Why ? I do not know. Don't you think both of them should have been compatible each other in the first place ? I added Comodo memory firewall today, smooth sailing as well,

Lately Comodo has surprised me with several top-notched security apps, and stay free and clean. Perhaps these are the right visions a successful entrepreneur should posses; rob from the rich(the corporate bodies) and give to the poor(the home users, in terms of spending budget).

Take care.

 

Just put it on here with Avira and they seem to make a great combo. I am really quite impressed with Comodo 3. So far so good. Quite a good piece of work I think.... using the defaults mostly, and so far it hasn't bothered me at all..

 

Same combination here. Combined they use less than 20MB of RAM and seemingly rock solid protection. I don't really feel like I need any other protection than these two to be honest.

 

I agree Comodo and Avira should be a great security Combination. I use Avast Home and feel pretty confident in using it along with Comodo. However, because I like to use different programs and the Spy Sweeper free 1 year offer is still available, I thought what the heck may as well use SS as well. I realize it is most likely not needed with Comodo and Avast plus Firefox, but I get pulled into that layered protection approach I hear about in here, and of course the paranoia. LOL. Take care.

 

Yep, that's how I feel also.. I am still very new to Comodo though, and trying to learn what all the Defense + options do. But so far I am very impressed with this setup....