Comodo vs Kerio vs Lavasoft Personal Firewall

I have two questions concerning these three software firewalls:

1) Which one of these is the lightest on system resources?
2) Which one, in your opinion, is the most effective?

I've seen numerous threads about Comodo and Kerio, but I'm hoping some of you will give some insight to Lavasoft's firewall.

 

Comodo initially got cpu usage problem, but afterwards it ran just fine. I don't understand the tecnical issues in whether it IS the best Firewall, but i think like this: it's completly free, the full and only version, and whenever someone detected a flaw/leak, when reported to Comodo, they updated it. So it passes all leaktests, for what is worth
Others recomend Jettico, i don't know it, but Comodo is fairly simple to set.

 

I might as well add, preference should not be given to Comodo because it's free.

What I'm looking for is which one offers the best protection and performance regardless of price.

 

Why restrict to just these 3. Lavasoft firewall is an older version/build of outpost firewall,... why not look at OutPost?

 

I did look at Outpost Pro, but wan't satisfied with it's interface and configuration options.

If you don't mind I asking Stem, which firewall(s) do you use or recommend?

 

Well comodo is probably the most secure out of the 3, however i prefer to use kerio as its always run well for me and does its job well.

 

But have you ever tried Comodo? If you have, how does is it different for you than Kerio?

 

For TCP/IP packet filtering kerio 2.1.5 works like dream. Rules can be made on the alert prompt as detailed as you want. All rules can be logged and/or alerted. It is very flexible. (Plus it takes usually less than 5 MB memory and zero cpu on my amd athlon 2400 Mhz, 512 MB system.)
This should be so also in Kerio 4, but cause of bugs etc. in that program, it is not really so. Still it is better than Comodo. Comodo is very clumsy in rule making/logging.

Comodo has many more advanced options other than basic packet filter. So that could be considered if really wanting that kind of advanced control from a firewall. Also I believe Comodo to be more stable to run than Kerio 4.

If not kerio 2.1.5, I would choose Comodo.

 

Yes i have used comodo in the past, i haven't used the latest versions but i've just never seemed to like it that much. Its given me a few problems amongst other things. However don't let that stop you from giving it a good try and see for yourself if it suit you or not.

I don't really suggest lavasoft as it is very basic with quite a few problems from what i have read.

 

But if your asking about Lavasoft its UI is about the same as Outpost so I guess I don't understand why you like the Lavasoft but not the Outpost UI?

Not to answer for Stem but it looks like he did recommend you to look at Outpost

Thanks,

Chris

 

Sometimes you can tell a lot about software by looking not at the software itself, but rather looking at the company behind the software. You can't go wrong with either Comodo or Kerio, depending upon your application. However, I would caution you about Lavasoft. In my opinion, Lavasoft is sketchy as a company. Their support is less than adequate (putting it politely) and they have long since shifted their attention away from individual users in favor of corporate customers (and they are not even doing a good job at that).

 

id say comodo is the lightest and also most effective.

like others have said, lavasoft's firewall is a just a rebranded, stripped, and older version of Outpost. Outpost's resources depends on how its configured, but like comodo, its very powerful.

 

I just thought if "Silent" was looking at "Lavasoft firewall", then why not Outpost. (I do have a current license for OP,.. but then again, I have current license for many firewalls (and yes, I personally pay for them all)

I currently have Injoy installed,... but this changes often (I like to play with firewalls, as I am here to help with firewalls (where I can) I try to keep up on all the latest builds, new releases etc, so install/run many).

For me to recommend a specific firewall for a member,...... this is a minefield for me for various reasons,......

 

I understand that position. You may be regarded as a "genius" or "idiot" depending on your personal opinion of a particular product.

 

I was not asked for my opinion,.... I was asked to recommend.

 

No, not in my opinion. Lavasoft's interface appear to be more streamlined and easier to navigate through.

See below:

For the second time, I've looked at Outpost and wasn't impressed.

Why not provide some useful, relevant comments instead of just quoting our posts?

 

Surprised by your statement. I've always thought Lavasoft to be a very reputable company, supportive of their home consumers. I've only recently heard about the Comodo Group and didn't think they would gain such a good reputation so fast. As for Kerio, it's developer Sunbelt is well known for their popular antispyware solution, CounterSpy, so I guess their support should be good.

 

As for Lavasoft, their AdAware is getting down, they just rely on their name to sell it.

As for the Comodo Group, I have to admit, that their approach is quiet fast. I tried their firewall only because thei reputation, they are selling security certificates, who could I trust more than such a company, especially since they refuse donations to their software development.

 

You hit the nail on the head. I would even go a step further and accuse Lavasoft of using their home customers to finance their target, which are corporate clients. They release horribly inadequate and underdeveloped software to home users fully intending not to provide support and knowingly creating barriers between themselves that the very customers that they seek to exploit.

I was equally surprised when Lavasoft decided to alienate their customers and effectively spit in the faces of all those who generously volunteered in supporting their product via forum. However, upon inquiry into the Lavasoft’s leadership it quickly became apparent that Lavasoft is mismanaged. The lack of respect for home customers starts at the top and trickles down from there. In my opinion, Lavasoft’s time has passed. Nothing short of a complete overhaul of the company’s management will give them a chance at surviving in the long run.

 

Regarding the question of system resources, Kerio uses 7 MB of resource memory, while Comodo uses 21 MB. At least, that's what shows up in my respective process lists on each of my PCs.

One thing I really like about Kerio is the ability to block personal information, credit card numbers etc. from being sent out. It is also has boot time protection. During startups and shutdowns, no inbound traffic is permitted, thus protected the host PC. Comodo does not offer either of these features. However, Comodo has somehow prevented the ability of Crackers from shutting it down and then accessing your computer. To my knowledge the same cannot be said for Kerio. Obviously, Kerio has also failed a few leak tests.

Another nice feature Comodo has is that when it is installed it can search your computer for programs against it's own database of accepted programs and minimize to a very large extent the popups you get asked for your permission or denial of a particular app's access. This is really a nice feature during initial setup. Of course, once the initial phase of permissions/denials is over that feature ceases to be of any real further use.

I've had no problems with the latest version of Comodo or Kerio. I'm using XP sp2 on both of my systems and have had no problem at all installing and uninstalling the firewalls. Comodo in an earlier version was a nightmare, but they fixed that by employing their own proprietary installer. It is no longer an issue.

If your system resources is your sole criteria, by all means go with Kerio. That said, both have tremendous features. Both, imho, are user friendly - not as much as Windows Firewall, but then WF is not doing that much. I'd recommend that you check them both out and see which one meets most of your preferences. Everyone's is different.

BTW, I used Agnitum's Outpost Pro 3.5 for just over a year and really liked it, but the new version 4.0 is a resource hog and routinely used up to 26% of my cpu cycles. It would not co-exist with Webroot's SpySweeper and tends to slow down your browsing experience. In fact, it disliked SS so much, it actually gave me a BSOD. I haven't had one of those in years. It offers great protection, but imo it simply is not worth the hassle and decreased browsing performance. Other users with different configurations may love it. I just couldn't put up with it on my laptop.

I had renewed my Outpost 3.5 subscription for two years, just before 4.0's release. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling 4.0 and emailing tech support, and finally decided it just wasn't worth the effort and completely uninstalled it from my laptop. It uses a Pentium M 1.7GHz with 1 GB of RAM and a 60GB 7200 rpm drive; so having enough computer should not have been the problem. All I can say is that it sure runs better under Kerio. I'm out the 2 year subscription money, but I'm a whole lot happier.

Hope my slant on things helps.

 

Answering your queries, if you're referring to KPF 2.15, it unquestionably runs the lightest. By far!
Comodo is the most effective. It ranks among the top of the heap in all modern testing categories.
Lavasoft's firewall is a branded (and non-recent) version of Outpost Pro minus some plug-ins. If you want Outpost, get Outpost, not some rebranded hoo-hah.

 

I realize this is moving away from the posters original question...

But how about Sygate...yes, Norton bought it and has, from what I can tell, discontinued it...maybe they thought it was too good and they would loose market share...but you can still find the free version on various download sites...it might be a little "dated" no compared to Kerio etc, but I think it is a very effective firewall, easy to use etc...

No, there are no updates for it, but a firewall blocks ports or it doesn't...not much to upgrade...

You experts have any thoughts on Sygate

 

I personally think that Comodo is OKAY. There is no part of the firewall where you can change settings for application behavior. By that, i mean a tab in the firewall where you can change the settings per application. Comodo doesn't detect my MSN Messenger connect either. As i said, it's okay, but i'd rather use Kerio 2.15

 

Don't rely too much on this - firewalls can only detect and block such information when it is sent in the clear. Most malware now encrypt their traffic so the contents of their data transfers cannot be identified.

The current Outpost 4.0 build (971) is a lot lighter CPU-wise in my experience and has addressed a number of conflicts. If you have the time, it may be worth another visit.