Avast WEBforum

Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: brhokla on November 24, 2010, 05:18:29 AM

Title: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: brhokla on November 24, 2010, 05:18:29 AM
I have Avast Pro 5.0 so it does not come with a Firewall.  Lately I have been testing a couple firewalls and wanted to ask other users about their experience/thoughts about two Firewalls in particular, Comodo Firewall and Online Armor Firewall? 

I have tested both and they seem to both work well with Avast.  The Comodo seems to pop up things more, much more but that may mean it's more powerful?  Thoughts? 

Online Armor seems to be much easier to use, almost very easy but yet it still shows tons of information and can be tweaked quite a bit.  Is it as powerful as Comodo?  Which is preferred by other users here in this forum and why? I've been trying to locate some tests that show performance, stability and which rates best but have not found anything really up to date on the two products. I'm trying to decide which one I want or need to make my regular Firewall.  Thanks
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: GloobyGoob on November 24, 2010, 06:31:52 AM
The amount of popups does not indicate how strong a firewall is. It's just that Online Armor makes more decisions than Comodo. You can reduce the amount of popups by disabling D+ if you wish.  It's up to you on which firewall you want to use; they are both good.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: Vladimyr on November 24, 2010, 07:25:11 AM
Don't discount the firewall you already have! W7 firewall (http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-manage-windows-7-firewall)

Note: If you end up with Comodo, there's a glitch in the installer that doesn't disable the W7 firewall. You'll need to turn off manually.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: Rednose on November 24, 2010, 07:31:19 AM
For a setup with a Firewall + HIPS my choice would be :

- Avast! Free
- OA premium
- Sandboxie Pro

But I have to say that I didn't test CIS 5 so far.

Greetz, Red.


Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: SafeSurf on November 24, 2010, 10:01:53 AM
You can see by my Signature that I use Avast Free with OA Premium, and have been for quite some time through the various versions with no conflicts.  I do not get the nag-ware pop-ups that used to happen with the pre-OA v.4.5.0 (current version is 4.5.1.431).  OA's GUI is user-friendly and can be set for newbies, advanced, or banking mode and it interchangeable.  I have tested OA Premium on XP-Home, XP-Pro, Vista and put them through the various stealth tests and come out 100%.  Keep in mind that each machine is different, and that you may want to trial the software for a month prior to purchasing to see how you like it and how it "plays" with your other software.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: Vladimyr on November 24, 2010, 03:23:32 PM
Should've mentioned in my earlier post, I've never used OA so I can't honestly recommend it. But I trust Tall Emu/Emsisoft ahead of Comodo.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: schmidthouse on November 24, 2010, 04:09:44 PM
  Keep in mind that each machine is different, and that you may want to trial the software for a month prior to purchasing to see how you like it and how it "plays" with your other software.

I'll second that. Excellent advice for anyone wanting to"actually pay for a firewall". Some venders have a 'no refund' policy...Agnitum being one(Outpost FW). Not sure about Comodo or OA. However I believe Comodo FREE 60 day ON LINE CHAT SUPPORT is a great! idea. For basic effective and reliable firewalls there are some really good FREE FIREWALLS available. Just depends how much mucking around you want to do. Many firewalls give you lots of tweeking options but IMO does not translate into significant difference in protection or "strength". :)
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: brhokla on November 24, 2010, 04:18:37 PM
I have installed both Comodo and Online Armor.  They both have things I like about each but recently I had a couple issues with another Comodo product and I'm leaning more towards the OA product.  It seems to really run well on my system.  It's only been 48 hours though since installation so that could change!  So far though I'm really impressed with OA.  Seems to run nicely with Avast 5.0 Pro.  Also seems to use less resources than Comodo did as I don't even notice the program running and have experienced absolutely no slowdown.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: BRANDONN2008 on November 24, 2010, 08:37:29 PM
I've been using Comodo for a month or so, mainly because of how good Def+ is. It hasn't cause me any headaches, except I had to tell it Steam was okay.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: Tgell on November 24, 2010, 09:13:05 PM
With Comodo Firewall and avast!, the firewall adds registry entries every time avast! updates unless the settings are changed.

http://forums.comodo.com/defense-sandbox-help-cis/comodo-firewall-free-inflate-the-windows-registry-t65331.0.html;new
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: jason7619 on November 24, 2010, 09:17:00 PM
I'd go for Online Armor Premium. Comodo has many pop-ups that are cryptic in nature. To the not so well versed it's deny or accept without understanding it. Yes, OA makes decisions better than Comodo but during first week of use it seem ot to learn what you input BUT it get's to learn it and pop-ups disappear. I use Outpost Pro ver 7 and loving it with AvastPro. I'll be testing OA Premium on Win7 again probably next week. Got a new license.

Might want to take a look at this:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=230343


http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=239750

Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: Sammo on November 24, 2010, 10:44:28 PM
After testing many of the firewall/hips solutions I settled on OnlineArmor Premium. Its easier to use and provides more protection than Comodo with less resource usage.

Take a look a this "Comparison of HIPS to prevent penetration into the core of Microsoft Windows" (you need to google tranlslate it):
http://www.anti-malware.ru/hips_test_ring0_2010

Only Online Armor, Online Solutions Security Suite, Outpost Security Suite Pro and Spyware Terminator passed the test with default settings.

Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: hayc59 on November 25, 2010, 07:59:10 AM
Go with Online Armor and stay away from Comode ;)
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: BRANDONN2008 on November 25, 2010, 09:33:15 AM
Darn. I've been going over this myself whether to use Comodo or Online Armor Free, but you guys are making me lean towards OA, especially with the registry thing, but I've been working on resolving that. The main reason I'm using Comodo is because of the outstanding HIPS protection, which hasn't bugged me much, but if OA's is as good, I would probably use it. However, I noticed I have to register to use OA, and it doesn't have automatic updates. These are minor inconveniences, but still.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: SafeSurf on November 25, 2010, 11:23:49 AM
I noticed I have to register to use OA, and it doesn't have automatic updates. These are minor inconveniences, but still.
You do not have to register...you can do a free trial of either the Free or Premium version for 30 days.  And it does automatic updates in the Premium version; you set it for how often you want it.  I have it set for every hour, but you can have it set for daily or every couple of hours or manually.  The Free version you have to manually update with just a click of the button on the main GUI and it only takes seconds to update.  It's very user-friendly.  If you like the software just prior to the end of your trial period, then you can register it.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: YoKenny on November 25, 2010, 03:09:28 PM
Go with Online Armor and stay away from Comode ;)
Is that a Freudian slip ???

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=comode
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: hayc59 on November 25, 2010, 05:47:08 PM
LOL !! hehehe
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: Tenko on November 25, 2010, 10:11:47 PM
I recommend comodo firewall. You have to disable Win firewall manually. Don't forget that you get cloud scanner as a plus.

It's true that comodo needs to learn how your computers work and your programs.

I find the firewall very good and the firewall you get is more than a firewall.

Regards,
              Tenko
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: hayc59 on November 26, 2010, 03:24:23 AM
Comode was good for a second when they first hit the web..then
well we all know where that went!!
grab a copy of Online Armor..you wont look back jack
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: brhokla on November 26, 2010, 03:44:35 AM
I'll be honest here.  I love the new Comodo, the interface, the look, the power it has but the constant pop-ups are what is keeping me away.  Online Armor learned my system when I configured the program during the install.  As long as your system is clean you can set it to do it automatically. This is the part that separates it from everything else.  If Comodo did this same thing, I'd be using Comodo.  Maybe one day it will.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: BRANDONN2008 on November 26, 2010, 05:52:13 AM
Well after learning about the problem with Comodo and the registry if you use Avast!, I decided to try Online Armor. It just finished installing, and although it takes the most memory of any firewall I've used, it's still a negligible 6MB. I like how it monitors your IE add-ons, and autoruns. It's like WinPatrol combined with a firewall. As long as the HIPS is good, I will stick with it.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: Tenko on November 26, 2010, 10:06:58 AM
hey there again:)

I am happy to hear you found your choose. Comodo does give pop ups but not as many as before. Those who have had v3 and v4 know what I am talking about. I will show you a link where you can config comodo so that it doesn't give any pop almost.

http://www.youtube.com/languy99#p/u/20/Bj_Tg8EeY-s (there you go:) )

Regards,
              Tenko
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: brhokla on November 26, 2010, 08:43:11 PM
Tenko,

Thanks for that link.  Those video's are absolutely awesome.  I appreciate it and will spend some time watching those!  Thanks
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: Tenko on November 26, 2010, 09:09:16 PM
I am glad to hear that i could help and don't forget that comodo's forum is active.

Regards,
              Tenko
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: jason7619 on November 26, 2010, 09:43:57 PM
Along this line, if you wanna consider something else there is Defensewall and Private firewall(free). You can check out some changes in the new version for Private firewall here:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=279923&highlight=Private+Firewall

Defensewall is not freeware but many are using it. Have not tried it yet.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: Sammo on November 26, 2010, 10:02:23 PM
Running tests on your security software can also help in determining what to use. One of the tests I ran on both Comodo and Online Armor was the Comodo Leak Test (CLT). On my system Online Armor scored higher that Comodo did with CLT. Other firewalls like Zone Alarm totally failed the test.The SpyShelter tests are also good ones to try (SpyShelter is a free anti-keylogger software - http://spyshelter.com)
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: jason7619 on November 27, 2010, 04:30:23 PM
Yeah. Definitely agree with Sammo there. Testing via PCFlank/GRC ShieldsUP! would be good. Comodo has it's own leaktest but haven't used it yet. Masoutec's has a couple of guides you can check out.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: twl845 on November 27, 2010, 04:40:27 PM
Go with Online Armor and stay away from Comode ;)
I advise the same, but have to mention that I have been running Outpost with Avast for almost a year with no problems.
When I used OA I found that every upgrade was a crap shoot. Some new versions created annoying problems because of bugs. I can't speak for them since they were bought out though. Maybe the new owner has eliminated the bugs.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: The Dude 321 on November 28, 2010, 06:37:52 AM
I use Comodo and Avast Free. I have never had a problem.
Title: Re: Best Firewall to use with Avast 5, Comodo or Online Armor?
Post by: SafeSurf on November 28, 2010, 08:39:51 AM
When I used OA I found that every upgrade was a crap shoot. Some new versions created annoying problems because of bugs. I can't speak for them since they were bought out though. Maybe the new owner has eliminated the bugs.
The real bugs you mention do not exist now with the new owners as they run a different ship these days with more rigorous testing before a release is put out to the public.  The current OA v.4.5.1.431 is very stable and many OA users also use Avast since there is no conflict.

As with any product you select, trial it before you purchase it to see how you like it and how it plays with your other software in your system.