Comodo Odyssey

I have used Comodo for years. My opinion is that they have the best security package on the market. BUT !!

I used Comodo CIS-v3 for a long time with no problems and felt that my PC was being protected by a program that was unequalled. Fine, but when CIS-v4 came out, I naturally updated. Catastrophe ! The Firewall kept failing. I uninstalled and reinstalled CIS-v4 FIVE times and the same thing happened.

The Comodo help team were as useful as a pain in the head.

I dumped it and went back to just the Comodo Firewall Pro with Defense + free version, which I have used to this very day. It has been no problem, but I cannot update it because Comodo keep saying that a new version is available and I know what that means - CIS-v4 or 5 with all the problems I had before. It is NOT an update, it is a complete reinstall and all my Firewall and Defense + files will be deleted. Start from scratch and re-invent the wheel - back to the Stone Age Johnny boy eh ?

I recently tried to install their Firewall-v5 but again it failed to install.

Having followed the standard uninstall procedure for CIS-v3 and v4, I found months later by a manual search that over 300 bits of crap were still on my PC from CIS ! They all went into the Recycle Bin and are still there.

I find it deplorable that a worldwide reputable and leading company like Comodo can install a program onto a perfectly clean system and leave a colossal amount of junk on a users system when the program is uninstalled.

They even have a special program for extracting their crap over and above the standard uninstall procedure !

If it was not that I regard the Comodo Firewall as being far ahead of any other, I would not touch Comodo with a barge-pole. Their loading time at start-up is disgraceful.

After this glowing tribute to Comodo, if anybody can really recommend an equally good Firewall, I will gladly dump Comodo into the history books and start again as a BORNE AGAIN PC PLODDER.

Just a point - I do like the HIPS protection and am attracted to Online Armor but await your comments.

 

Just from my experience I never ever had problems uninstalling/reinstalling/updating through different versions. Maybe I'm just plain lucky.

As for alternative I was very pleased by OA Free until I made some updates from MS update and HIPS go crazy with countless popups for some MS temp files. I was forced to put it in training mode and after that it was silence. Maybe I've had bad luck.
Still I like OA free.

You can also try Privatefirewall.

 

unless this thread turns into this and that fw is better i have to say to that Comodo gives little to none probs with uninstalling procedure but really i have heard a few having the same problems meanwhile . Anyway i guess both OA and Comodo are fine.Comodo firewall is giving me a hard time to make it learn a few comands and remember my choice which i never faced with OA. Once you tell OA that you trust a certain application it will generally remember.
Well both are not my favorite FW-s. I really like Private Firewall light and really strong and the other one is ZoneAlarm . (i ma using ZA PRo). Both give a little to no trouble while doing their job

 

John, I had similar problems with v4. But considering that all versions, v5 included, failed...maybe is a sign of something else. Simply sounds a bit strange. In any case, comodo is an attractive solution for those who want to have free protection. Personally I try it often to see its progress. Lately had no issues and v5 seems a step to the right direction. Normally I use different security software and not Comodo, so I have not really an every day contact with this software. I don't really suggest comodo as a complete security solution but considering the user's habbits, comodo could be a good solution. Leaving apart the tray icon, which reminds me a turkish flag ( fortunately there is no star near the C ) Comodo has great potential.

 

John,

Just dump Comodo. The built-in Windows Firewall will serve you just as well.

 

I've tried the other free firewall/hips with some success but always had at least one or two issues with each of them. The only freeware firewall/hips that I have zero issues with is PrivateFirewall. Maybe it's not the best, but zero problems with it.

Ice

 

Go best of breed on XP: Kerio 2.1.5 free and Spyshelter free, Use Edgeguard Solo Free to run internet facing aps in a LUA-like environment.

You will be surprised with your comodo leak test you score. and the low system impact

 

Have you tried the CIS removal tool?

http://forums.comodo.com/empty-t37202.0.html

And, then maybe you can install the latest CIS v5

 

Online Armor Free is probably the most similar firewall/HIPS to Comodo v3. I think both are very good products if you know how to use them.

 

What a wonderful early selection of comments and every one appreciated. I am getting happier by the post, but rapidly developing a phobia about Firewalls.

I live in a world of Supermarket clickers, that is the limit of their PC and Internet wisdom. I have nobody to consult with my questions except Wilders, who never let me down. I know some members of our community don`t like me, but I am a decent guy, kind to animals, donate to charities and always say "Hello" to my neighbours.

I had a try at Comodo-v5. Downloaded it to my desktop, disabled my existing Comodo-v3, shut down and went into Safe Mode. Installed v5, restarted in normal mode and waited for v5 to load. All I got was a panel saying "data incomplete - Error 13". As my Mommy never told me what Error 13 is and I am now too old to learn, I dumped v5 yet again. Well done Comodo, at least it is consistent. That must make the 6th time I have tried.

Then I got really excited and downloaded Online Armor to my desktop. Surely this will be OK.
Shut down, went into Safe Mode + Networking and all went well. Restarted in normal mode, waited and up came a panel saying "adjust your Internet connection". I clicked OK and up came another panel saying it wanted a Proxy. I have never had a program that wanted a Proxy in my life, but OA did.

As my Firefox has been told not to allow Proxies, I dumped OA as well.
So, my optimistic venture into the wonderland of current security technology failed miserably.

Ah well, I`ll give Wilders a bit more time, perhaps something will turn up. Meanwhile, back to my old faithful but not updateable Comodo-v3.

NO ! I will not go to Sunday School even if the God`s ARE angry at me.

 

Man something is not right on your side.
Half an hour ago I've uninstalled CIS 5 and installed OA Free (bored by perfect CIS for me). Seven x64. All went smooth like silk, no CIS uninstall errors, no OA install proxy/glitches/whatever.
It looks like you're doomed to use Comodo v.3.

 

hi
Just a quick questions:
1. When you mentioned disabled CIS 3. Did you mean shut it down or uninstall it? If the second one, via add/remove software or manufacturers removal tool?
2. Why are you trying to install in safe mode? I think it is better to install that level of software in normal mode.

 

Hi Jav,
I disabled v3 using the CCleaner tab. Misconfig always argues about changes with pop-up panels saying I am in Diagnostic mode and wants me to go back to normal mode, whereas CC does not.

Normally when I replace a program I always uninstall it using the correct add/remove procedure and then scoop up any left-overs manually. In this case I just disabled v3 and used Safe Mode as a Good Fairy hoping that with everything shut down all would be OK.

@burebista

Is it possible to tell me exactly how you did your ins and outs to get such a perfect result ? I would appreciate this to see if I can repeat it to the letter.
Do it by PM if you think the information is not adaptable to the thread.

With v3 working perfectly, I am afraid of uninstalling it in case I have trouble getting it back. Also, all my configured FW and Defense+ files will be lost, so that a new install will bombard me with pop-ups until all my operating files have been correctly rated - a lot of work.

 

John believe me or not I went to Start-All programs-Comodo-Comodo Firewall and choose uninstall. Reboot and I'm clean.
Then double-click on OnlineArmorSetup.exe choose Trust everything on PC and followed on-screen instructions, reboot, wait one minute to detect whatever it detects and I was good to go.
Administrator account on Seven x64.
Sorry, I know that it sounds stupid but that was exactly what I did.

LE: BTW I did those steps many times. Everytime when I'm bored by CIS I uninstall it and try anything else: Outpost (I have a lifetime license), Privatefirewall, OA, ZA, Threatfire.

 

Eice had a pretty good suggestion... get rid of Comodo and use the Windows firewall that is already installed and just waiting to do its job.
You can rely on that until you get things squared away, as far as boot time and all programs working well together. Then you can either keep using it, or move on to something new. But get the old Comodo off of there and let Windows FW protect you for awhile.

 

Not sure why you only disabled Comodo 3 and then install Comodo 5 in safe mode. I would've been surprised if it worked
With your machine slowing down, as you reported, you are placing additional strain trying new software half heartedly. As it is working fine albeit slow keep it in its "gold" config or make a backup of the whole machine so that if anything goes wrong you can quickly go back to it. With system backup in place try by removing Comodo 3 and installing Comodo 5

 

I think your problem may have happened due to not actually unistaling it.
Eventhough you have disabled autorun from ccleaner, services and drivers are still there and I think still in autostart.
As far as I know ccleaner only looks into autoruns in registry? So drivers will still load (but of course they weren't loaded when you were installing as you were in safe mode)
however I think they may have loaded again when you restarted your system after instalation.
It is all just assumptions, so I can't be sure.

What I would advise is as have already been mentioned: just take an image of your system and backup all your important data.
After doing this you can go on on your adventure of experimenting.
So if something will not work out again you will just restore your system from that image and can be sure that you have your working system back with your working CIS 3 in it untouched.
Hovewer do backup your important data aswell incase of unfortunate disaster.

Feel free to ask any questions if you need clarification to any of the above mentioned points.

 

I do so appreciate every reply so far, they are really helpful and will consider them all in what I eventually decide to do.

Jav, I have a confession to make, have`nt the faintest idea how to back up and recover my Comododo-v3 data so I can reinstall it, if or when the cork pops.

From what you are all saying, I must uninstall the existing programs before installing any replacements. I always normally do this, but have explained my reasons for trying to avoid it in this case.

 

Hi John.
When I mentioned backup, I didn't mean backup of Comodo settings. But backup of the whole system drive.
So with this method it will create an image of your full system partition and you can put it backup anytime you want.


You can use software like: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp to achieve it.

There is a tutorial which explains how to do it: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

Or you can have a look at this section of wildersforum: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=97

 

I recently went through a succession of four firewalls, two of which were Comodo, with no problems. Uninstall/reboot/install next.

Succession was:
- OA Paid FW + HIPS
- Comodo CIS V5
- Comodo V5 Firewall + HIPS
- PrivateFirewall FW + HIPS

No problems at all. Comodo was well-behaved at all times, even when I ran EAM and Prevx SOL with the Comodo CIS suite.

I had system backups ready for each iteration, but didn't need them.

I suspect that your problems were due to not fully uninstalling one product before installing the next. Win 7 OS here.

 

Hilarious. The next time I hear John complaining about some software, I will point back to this thread.

I don't have v3 but on the More tab there should be a "Manage My Configurations" tool to export your current configuration.

If you want to install the last version of v3, download it from FileHippo. You may as welll go to v5 though, since it's now obvious that your Comodo problems were due to user error.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_comodo/

 

The best uninstaller is a clean pre-install image.

Private Firewall is an option (FW+HIPS+Anomaly Detection) -- good protection and it runs sweet & true (like the Schwinn bike I got for my 9th birthday -- back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.)

 

I would like t thank you all for a very generous and helpful response to my poster.

I suppose it all went pear shaped when I tried to install the two firewalls by simply disabling the Comodo FW-v3. I was simply trying to save losing all my rated files on both the FW and D+.

Gud4u hit it by adding :-
"I suspect that your problems were due to not fully uninstalling one product before installing the next."

Now I will take all your comments into account and explore a path to a new FW by uninstalling my Comodo FW-v3 (Adios files) in the proper manner. Then first try OA and see if I like it - should do, it is well acclaimed by many. If I then have withdrawal symptoms for my beloved Comodo, I will uninstall OA and install Comodo FW Pro-v5.

Reckon that sows it up for me and again thanks to you all.

Two last questions :-
1. Defense + ? - I appreciate the significance of this HIPS watch, but when it says "program X is trying to contact the Internet", as I have`nt a clue what program X is and end up saying YES to everything, there is not a lot of point in having this prolific pop-up pest is there ?

2. Be gentle with me - but is it best to install in Safe Mode + Networking where all other programs are dead to avoid conflict ? If not, then I will not disable my Windows FW or AVG during the period when I have no personal FW and a live Internet connection.

 

Re HIPS Prompts, you might:
- Google for description of what 'program x' is. Safe or not?
- Block, but don't check the 'Remember' box, and see what happens. Anything critical disabled?
- Allow, but don't check the 'Remember' box, and see what happens. Might be dangerous.

Many here regard HIPS as vital protection, with the understanding that you MUST at some point resolve what's safe to allow.

The OA HIPS is, in my opinion, easiest to configure. You have the option of 'trusting everything' at installation. Comodo HIPS seemed a bit more finicky. PrivateFirewall seems to force some decision on opening every app, including every function of the app. Every HIPS reliably remembered allow/block decisions.

I don't install in Safe Mode, some programs won't install in Safe Mode. In my case, I installed as administrator with Prevx and EAM disabled.

 

That's the firewall giving you the popup for internet connections, not the HIPS (D+). HIPS will alert you to DNS access, Windows Socket access before the actual internet access popoup. If you want to allow all outgoing connections without popups, you may as well just use Windows Firewall.

No need for safe mode, and Windows Firewall can be left on until you reboot, then you can disable it.