Privatefirewall - awful results in comodo leak test..

all over the net there are videos and reviews showing that Privatefirewall is one of the best for free protection. I have therefore tried using the Comodo leak test program to see what can break through the firewall. Most videos from last year show that in default mode, it blocks a reasonable 300 out of 340 attempts, although one rootkit seems to get through in most videos.

My result for Privatefirewall in its default mode.. is that it only blocks 120 out of 340, inc 2 rootkits.
Is this firewall no longer being updated or as good as it used to be?

 

IMO, ZA is the best free fw, nothing has got by it AFAIK on my computers. Light and fast. I like Privatefirewall, but it does not pass any fw tests, fails stealth tests. AFAIK

 

zip what is zonealarm free firewall running memory wise?

 

You can't go by taskmanager, all we can do is by feel.

 

BTW, I'm using the ZA Free Suite, so even if T. K. was acurate, I wouldn't be able to answer you.

 

If "all over the net there are videos and reviews showing that Privatefirewall is one of the best for free protection" and "Most videos from last year show that in default mode, it blocks a reasonable 300 out of 340 attempts" maybe the fact that your "result for Privatefirewall in its default mode.. is that it only blocks 120 out of 340, inc 2 rootkits" could be due to some issue on your end, no?

 

The obvious is often overlooked: have you checked whether the learning mode is off?

 

the darkness what OS are you using? x64 often gets poorer results and Win 8 x64 even worse as vendors have not quite gotten to grips with either patchgaurd or the new Win 8 kernal yet.

kees might be right though as I think even running comodo tests as limited user would get you more than 120.

 

Its a fresh install of vista32 with SP2 on a laptop. Perhaps thats part of the problem, (being a fresh install, rather than being vista). Privatefirewall by default has its training mode switched on with a threshold of 60% for 7 days, perhaps only then should a test be tried, Im not sure. I have xp and 7, 32-bit also, but I havent tried privatefirewall or the leak test on either. Normally I would use ZA, but its supposedly not that compatible with vista.

I have just tried windows own default firewall, and that also gives a leak test result of 120/340. If anyone here would like to try the program and post their firewall and results (the test takes 30 seconds), that might give a better insight in exactly how good this program is.
Theres always the chance that the test is purposely geared towards giving better results with comodos own firewall. If comodos free firewall also gives poor results, then I will assume the test itself isnt a great simulation of the real thing, or it only gives good results with the paid-for complete suites with all firewall feautures.. especially comodos own internet security pro suite, lol. thanks

 

You've got training mode switched on?!?

 

Actually,ZA firewall fails PcFlank test too.

 

I would not give much importance to those leak tests. The software is OLD only supporting 32bit + XP + VISTA, its done by one software manufacturer and I have seen marking fails also when in reality was a pass.

PrivateFirewall is a good choice as many others out there. I would see how it works on the system, play with its settings, tune it up and ask other users here for help for harden it.

btw, ZA support VISTA from SP1 onwards.

 

Yes, old story. This is by design. Development judged it irrelevant security wise. You will find posts in the ZA forum how to make the test passing (user Oldsod). Probably messages back to 2006/2007/2008, can't remember.

 

If you have PF in training mode it is more or less trusting everything that is installed in your computer. You must switch it off to test the program.

I never used the training mode, I don't like it. I spent a couple of days answering dozens of pop ups when I first installed PF but that's the way that HIPS lovers roll, lol.

 

I know,but zip is so confident in the mighty ZoneAlarm who passes all the tests... (just for him,of course)

 

ROFL, I just got 60/340

I have no clue what this program is testing for though.
Is it checking to see what exactly can get through to the Internet or is it checking for other vulnerabilities too?
I have PrivateFirewall set to prompt me about everything that tries to access the Internet and during the test I was only prompted about six times.

 

I wish people would do the research when using a special purpose software test tool.

CLT first is an old tool; it was developed in 2007 or 2008 I believe. It was developed to test and tune earlier versions of Comodo e.g. vers 2 and 3 for maximum protection. That includes both the firewall and the HIPS, Defense+. Back then the OS was XP x86 for all practical puposes. CLT testing was designed to be an iterative process where a test was run, Comodo settings adjusted as required, and the process repeated until the maximum score was achived.

CLT can be used as a very rough benchmark with other security software but it's usefullness today is very questionable.

Again, if you want to know PrivateFirewall leak effectiveness, go to www.matousec.com and look at their latest leak test results on x64 platforms.

 

I find it very useful, for what it tests. The trick is to be aware exactly what each test means, and to check if your security solution is protecting against that vector of attack. The final score, taken as a whole, has little relevance.

 

Another point to note is Matousec had to totally rewrite their leak tests for x64 OSes. So if your running a x64 OS, make sure the leak test you are using is certified for the x64 OS you are using. Running a x86 leaktest against an x64 OS will most certainly give results that are not accurate.

 

As you can see my concern is passing stealth tests. If Privatefirewall passed Shields up!!, I would redownload it in a "New York minute".

I'm not worried about "leaks", my av and Mbam will take care of them.

I have no doubt that JoeBlack40's "Mighty ZoneAlarm" will jump into the ruckus to help defend my computer.

 

Here are the Matousec leak tests for WIN 7 x64 using IE9. They state the tests might work with other browsers: http://www.matousec.com/projects/security-software-testing-suite-64/

Warning! Note the Matousec warning. Do not run these tests without first doing a full image backup that you can restore your system from and storing that backup on an external HDD. In other words, there is a high likehood these tests could destroy your system.

 

Why do you worry about things that don't matter?

 

Why, because you don't like what it states.

...by feel are you serious!!?

I am tired of hearing this as an excuse for memory hungry apps.

 

videos from general users such as
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwMlK2e546o
state that when everything is set to automatic with default settings (general training mode is off, system anomaly training set to 60% for 7 days), it can give excellent results. My settings were no different, which made me question the sudden change, when their great test result may not have been that long ago judging by the post date, regardless of the age of the leak test program.

Im sure there is plenty of debate as to whether any of these simulated tests are close to the real thing and worthwhile, but then some may argue that a good firewall should be able to block all attempts, and the older the test program is, perhaps even more so. Comodo seem to think that their age old leak testing program is still relevant, since its still up for download on their main site. So.. I decided to install comodos free firewall for a test test - 220 in game mode, but.. 120 in normal mode! Identical to privatefirewall, except its blocking different items, and unlike privatefirewall-fails to block two rootkit attempts instead of one, lol

 

"No pain, no gain" is one of my favorite sayings.

There are numerous threads in this section on how to configure PF for maximum leak protection.

Here is one configuration:

I have been playing with Private firewall win7x64 using this settings:

Internet Security: High
Network Security: High
Local Sites: "Untrusted"
Manual Control Mode
Disable Auto-Response
Alert to all new outbound connections
Process Monitor: "High"

Using Comodo leak test the score was 250/340

Privatefirewall takes time to learn and a lot of research into configuring for "optimal" oubound leak protection. It is not a product for non-technical users in my opinon.

Comodo as you have discovered in default configuration pretty much also allows all outbound "trusted" traffic.