Giving Up On Comodo Firewall. Any Alternatives?

[steveb]

Had poblems with the last update from Comodo firewall and just downloaded the newest version and ended up having to do a system restore as it would not load and when I tried to uninstall it it would not uninstall and said it's running. I think it's time to change firewall. Is there a good one out there?

[webfact]

Matousec has something to report and it might help you to choose the right firewall for you.

http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive...nge/results.php

BTW I am running Online Armor and Comodo (Notebook & PC) and faced no issues with it.

Edited May 14, 2009 by webfact

[stumonster]

I changed to Comodo from Zonealarm a year or so ago and have found Comodo to be ok - though it can be intimidating for new users

it is a bit intrusive , but seems to catch many things - just takes a little time to get it trained.

[CosmicSurfer]

Online Armour....

Did Zone Alarm for Years...

Comodo lost me Quick....

Online Armour.. does the trick... It's a Dream.

Free is all you need.

CS

[Daffy D]

My Vote is for OnLine Armor

Comodo has been acting a bit strange the last couple of days with several updates within a short time. What's going on?

Am running both at the moment but will drop Comodo and stay with OnLine Armor.

[CosmicSurfer]

My Vote is for OnLine Armor

Comodo has been acting a bit strange the last couple of days with several updates within a short time. What's going on?

Am running both at the moment but will drop Comodo and stay with OnLine Armor.

You should NEVER run 2 Firewalls on the same computer...

CS

[webfact]

My Vote is for OnLine Armor

Comodo has been acting a bit strange the last couple of days with several updates within a short time. What's going on?

Am running both at the moment but will drop Comodo and stay with OnLine Armor.

You should NEVER run 2 Firewalls on the same computer...

CS

The rule is that you can use several anti-spyware applications.

Never more than one firewall or anti-virus!!

[Daffy D]

You should NEVER run 2 Firewalls on the same computer...

CS

Can't argue with you there but I see "Webfact" is doing the same without problems so I'm not the only one

I'm test driving the Armor and did not want to be without protection in case it was no good. I like the look and feel of it so will probably ditch Comodo

[webfact]

You should NEVER run 2 Firewalls on the same computer...

CS

Can't argue with you there but I see "Webfact" is doing the same without problems so I'm not the only one

I'm test driving the Armor and did not want to be without protection in case it was no good. I like the look and feel of it so will probably ditch Comodo

In my post I mention to run Armor on my Notebook and Comodo on my PC. Your reply is a bit confusing

because it reads like you are "running 2 firewalls at the same PC concurrently". And that is a No no!

Even if you run one only and have disabled the other it is a no no!

/edit for technical addition

Edited May 15, 2009 by webfact

[CosmicSurfer]

You should NEVER run 2 Firewalls on the same computer...

CS

I'm test driving the Armor and did not want to be without protection in case it was no good. I like the look and feel of it so will probably ditch Comodo

NEVER means NEVER...

But if you are worried about being without protection while you change Firewalls.. Never Fear....

If you are running WinXP SP2, or Vista and you Delete your 3rd Party Firewall, then Windows Firewall will take over and add it's minimal protection... good enough until you get another 3rd Party operable again.

As Webfact mentioned, the same applies to Anti-Virus.... Never 2 installed together...

Or any Combo Suite! ie Zone Alarm...

Also any Disk Imaging Software.... Like Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image... Never Together On a Computer....

But you Can run an Imaging program and a Back-Up program.

Aren't Computers FUN ???

CS

[Daffy D]

Oops!

OK! I surrender.

So you can now all stop worrying about my lack of comupter skills and get back to more important things I have uninstalled Comodo in favor of Armor.

[stumonster]

Even if you run one only and have disabled the other it is a no no!

/edit for technical addition

err .... so what steps do you take to remove windows firewall ?

[MeetJohnDoe]

In the past, I have used ZA, Comodo, and a couple other free and paid firewalls. Most of them are too intrusive or wind their way too deeply into my system or start to misbehave and begin to hog system resources or have too many updates/alarms/notices. I have gone back to using the built-in firewall in Windows XP-SP3. [The firewalls in Vista and the upcoming Win7 are even better.] Yeah, I know it doesn't flag outgoing connection requests...but if you are a sophisticated user, with your anti-virus and anti-spyware settings correctly configured, you shouldn't have any rogue programs/Trojans making these connections. The only outgoing connections should be from software you use and approve-of and presumably wouldn't mind them making various legitimate outgoing connection requests. If you don't want these programs connecting on their own, you can configure the programs or the XP firewall appropriately.

It works fine and the updates are easy with Windows auto-updates turned on.

Okay, I've put on my armor, MS haters, fire your hate-tipped arrows.

Edited May 16, 2009 by MeetJohnDoe

[webfact]

Even if you run one only and have disabled the other it is a no no!

/edit for technical addition

err .... so what steps do you take to remove windows firewall ?

no need because that firewall will be disabled automatically when you install 3rd party firewall!

It only takes over again if you uninstall your 3rd party firewall.

Read the post from CS in this thread.

/addition: I am not sure if you can remove Windows firewall entirely

Edited May 16, 2009 by webfact

[CosmicSurfer]

Even if you run one only and have disabled the other it is a no no!

/edit for technical addition

err .... so what steps do you take to remove windows firewall ?

no need because that firewall will be disabled automatically when you install 3rd party firewall!

It only takes over again if you uninstall your 3rd party firewall.

Read the post from CS in this thread.

/addition: I am not sure if you can remove Windows firewall entirely

No Need to Uninstall Windows Firewall.. like Webfact says.. 3rd party Firewalls will automatically turn off Windows Firewall... In a Safe and planned manner.. and Windows will automatically adjust itself for the presence of a 3rd party Firewall.. or Re-Install itself in the absence of one... one of the Good points about Windows Security Center... They designed this part correctly.

But on the Otherhand, as 3rd party software is not aware of just what other 3rd Party stuff you may install, it can't properly adjust for it... but as all Win7, Vista or XP SP2 machines automatically have Windows Firewall, then 3rd party knows it will be there and can adjust for it.

Kow Jai Mai ???

CS

[joka]

Easily customizable, low resource usage...ghostwall.

[JetsetBkk]

...Comodo has been acting a bit strange the last couple of days with several updates within a short time. What's going on?...

Dunno. But I've declined the Comodo updates over the last few days until I'm sure I know what apps. I've configured to be blocked going out so I can check they are still blocked after updating.

A few updates ago, Comodo would lose all the configuration information and I'd have to re-enter it. I now see that you can save your configurations. I presume you can also import them into a new version.

I notice the update requests have now stopped. Maybe they gave up or recalled the update.

As others have said, it's hard to find even the simplest, most obvious things in Comodo. It has 3 pages of settings, two of them with Common and Advanced settings, each with 4 to 10 items that can be adjusted and using descriptions that don't mean much.

Maybe I'll give 'online armour' a go.

[wpcoe]

While I do get irritated some times with the frequency of Comodo's alert messages, I'm grateful for them for pointing out such things as Adobe and Google who stealthily (try to) do updates in the background. I'm an old fuddy duddy and like to be control of what happens, especially with hogging online bandwidth, and take great pleasure in denying such "we know what's best for you" type of apps like Adobe and Google ones. Harrumph!

[webfact]

...Comodo has been acting a bit strange the last couple of days with several updates within a short time. What's going on?...

Dunno. But I've declined the Comodo updates over the last few days until I'm sure I know what apps. I've configured to be blocked going out so I can check they are still blocked after updating.

A few updates ago, Comodo would lose all the configuration information and I'd have to re-enter it. I now see that you can save your configurations. I presume you can also import them into a new version.

I notice the update requests have now stopped. Maybe they gave up or recalled the update.

As others have said, it's hard to find even the simplest, most obvious things in Comodo. It has 3 pages of settings, two of them with Common and Advanced settings, each with 4 to 10 items that can be adjusted and using descriptions that don't mean much.

Maybe I'll give 'online armour' a go.

set the Comodo firewall to "training mode" for a week or 2.

BTW you can export/import your configuration. Very easy to do

Edited May 20, 2009 by webfact

[OriginalPoster]

What are the shortcomings of Microsoft's firewall that comes with Vista?

[CosmicSurfer]

.

What are the shortcomings of Microsoft's firewall that comes with Vista?

It only protects from stuff trying to get "IN".

It doesn't protect against anything trying to get "OUT" of your computer... if any Malware or Trojan gets in, then it can take over your computer and you lose any Incoming protection... as it acts as a Bot for Spam, or starts sending Email out, while eating up your bandwidth.

Probably a few other smaller problems.. But that's the Biggie !

CS

[fullservice]

comodo is too annoying. zone alarm works for me.

[saintofsilence]

i use norton 360 had it for two years never a problem

[webfact]

Easily customizable, low resource usage...ghostwall.

agreed, it is indeed a good firewall but I am tempted to say its a more sophisticated windows firewall.

Using Ghostwall a user has to have a lot of knowledge about ports and rules...

I personally would recommend it for experts not for the average home user.

[CosmicSurfer]

comodo is too annoying. zone alarm works for me.

I was a Confirmed Zone Alarm guy for years...

Burt when I went to Vista I had to give it up.. Not Vista friendly.. Then I discovered Online Armor...

I won't go back now.

CS

[JetsetBkk]

set the Comodo firewall to "training mode" for a week or 2.

BTW you can export/import your configuration. Very easy to do

Yes, I do that regularly - the last time was 8th May. So I'll do it again and then update the firewall and then import the old settings. Should work!