Comodo Personal Firewall: what do you like about it?

[Vlk]

Hi guys,

I was just wondering: what is it that you like about Comodo PF? I mean, I once trialed it and didn't find it that great - but I'd be very curious what other people think, too.

To be honest, it is probably no secret that we're working on our own PF and so I'd like to take your input as a constructive discussion of the final version of avast personal firewall.

Of course, if you have other ideas to share (not necessarily related to Comodo) please bring'em on, too!

Cheers
Vlk

[mauserme]

To be honest, it is probably no secret that we're working on our own PF ...

Now it isn't 

For me Comodo strikes a good balance between security and ease of use.   Its about as tight as Jettico (according to the leak tests) but where Jettico is almost impossible to use Comodo is as easy as Zone Alarm.

[rdmaloyjr]

I want a fw that is low on RAM use.  Jetico 1 uses between 1mb to 9mb.  Most of the time it was at the lower end.  I didn't have to make a rule to use ICQ voice chat in Jetico 1.  I don't want to have to make rules.   A firewall should be user friendly.  The only 2 things I didn't like about Jetico 1 is 1) Microsoft updates couldn't be set in it  2) the HIPS were too much.

Ashampoo has a good idea.  The internet connection is blocked until Ashampoo fw is up & running.

I don't like anything about Comodo!  Tried it 4 times.

I hope the avast pf will be completely stand alone.  Let it be a firewall, not a jack of all trades.  There are plenty of HIPS & other security apps available.  I hope it will play well with other apps.

 

[Vlk]

For me Comodo strikes a good balance between security and ease of use

What does "ease of use" mean, exactly? Not asking very many questions? Or the questions are well-asked? Or nice GUI? Or something else?

I want a fw that is low on RAM use.  Jetico 1 uses between 1mb to 9mb.  Most of the time it was at the lower end.

How do you measure this? Did you know that it's quite easy that e.g. in Task Manager shows as using almost no memory - while the reality is elsewhere? E.g. kernel-mode allocations dont show up in Task Manager (and most PF's do have a kernel component in place).

I didn't have to make a rule to use ICQ voice chat in Jetico 1.  I don't want to have to make rules.   

Of course, a robust pre-created rule DB is one of the pillars of a good PF.

Ashampoo has a good idea.  The internet connection is blocked until Ashampoo fw is up & running.

I don't know if that's Ashampoo's idea but of course, a special ruleset is used by most PF's during system startup.

I hope the avast pf will be completely stand alone.  Let it be a firewall, not a jack of all trades.

I too think there'll be a standalone avast PF - even though a suite will exist as well. Remember that most users (I mean average users) DO WANT suites. We simply cannot ignore this fact.

Cheers
Vlk

[DavidR]

I think by 'ease of use' it's not having pop-up overload asking for decisions from users that are unlikely to be able to make an informed decision. So a balance on decision overload or too slack security, a very difficult balance.

The ZA free was such a beast requiring little user input, even though the latest free ZA version is crippled and doesn't provide as good outbound protection when compared to its pro version.

Choice is a wonderful thing, so if a suite does appear on the horizon, I trust you will continue the stand alone avast AV.

[mauserme]

What does "ease of use" mean, exactly? Not asking very many questions? Or the questions are well-asked? Or nice

Comodo has never failed to recognize the network when I've installed it.  Some firewalls require this to be manually configured which can be tough for the average user (and not something I particularly want to do anyway.   Like rdmaloyjr, I don't want to be a rule writer).

The "Scan for Known Applicaitons" option saves time during the learning process, though the data base could be larger.  I also like the infomation Comodo gives when alerting to a new application.  It saves a little research sometimes and I think its very helpful to users who don't have lot of firewall experience.

Very importantly,  when I tell Comodo to remember an action it does remember it.  This was not my experience with Jettico.

The GUI with Comodo is nothing special.  Even some options I know exist are dificult to find if I haven't opened it in a while.  I would prefer a more logical interface but live with it as is since it's hardly ever necessary to use it.

[drhayden1]

Comodo Firewall Pro is the best firewall that I have found so far. It has earned a "stealth" rating at Shields Up and has been easy to use. It has an Application Monitor,Network Monitor,Component Monitor,and Application Behavior Analysis. The early versions of Comodo were heavy on resource usage. Comodo listened to the complaints and made subsequent upgrades lighter on resources.Very responsive developers for freeware!This firewall has always been rock solid with no conflicts of any kind. Version 3.0 is in beta and sounds promising too. I have tried LookNStop,Kerio,Bit Defender,Sygate,Zone Alarm,Filsec,and a few others and I would take Comodo over any of them!
i hope avast!firewall will have some or all of the above monitors and light on resources and doesn't pop up and ask you everything-just the things that are necessary
VLK-do you know at this point in time if there will be a free and a pro version just like the anti-virus or  

[mauserme]

Of course, if you have other ideas to share (not necessarily related to Comodo) please bring'em on, too!

Vista compatability, of course.

It has earned a "stealth" rating at Shields Up ...

Stealth is OK and probably needed from a marketing point of view.  Personally  don't lose any sleep if I'm not stealthed.

[Sesame]

I like configuring PFW applications and liked Kerio 2.1.5, Jetico 1.0.  Now that Jetico moved to 2.0, I began to use Comodo Pro Free.

At first, my opinion on Comodo was not that different from yours, vlk but opening up Security>Advanced>Miscellaneous>Configure window, I set Alert Frequency Level Very High, which enabled me to configure rules in a detailed manner.  I still like Kerio 2.1.5 and Jetico styles, but Comodo is not that bad option especially when we are behind a security router with its own firewall.  I must confess that I don't know how to measure memory usage at kernel level, but I don't feel that the application is slowing down my computer, either.  Over all, I agree that Comodo is somewhere between the above PFWs and Zone Alarm, which isn't so configurable.

P.S.  Vlk, you may like to browse around some security boards to read opinions.  Some are very learned - Stem at wilders comes to my mind.

[polonus]

Hi Vlk,

I am a late adopter of COMODO FW together with ComodoBOClean, which seem a nice accompaniment. After years of using ZA free on Win98 SE, WinMe, and WinXP SP2, I became annoyed with ZA lately, because it collapsed and it would not work together with TORPark, enabling Tor made it crash. And following all the enthusiastic postings here, I then installed COMODO.
I also could see what a firewall could bring with qualities like FwPaPI, so when you combine a fw that monitor processes with one that does packet filtering.
Packet filtering gonna be more and more important. Maybe you know that Belgium is one of the spearhead countries here, because a judge decided a certain ISP that it should filter all  P2P traffic to block "illegal" (copyrighted) content being shared. So there a FW could kill two birds with one stone when this option was given, because P2P will go encrypted to avoid this, and then if they cannot put a halt to sharing they will find an excuse that will take it off completely, but then we are ready for the censored Internet 2. But for the moment we do not know what this development will really be, but it seems to go down this route. Let us all we see what will happen.

polonus

[Lisandro]

I was just wondering: what is it that you like about Comodo PF?

Great firewall. I use it since from the beggining of the betas...

The interface could be better, but, after all is the only 'very good' firewall that we have as freeware.
I would love if you 'join' Comodo or you can increase your coding time using Comodo as a 'first' step on Alwil firewall.
Other points:

Pros:
1. Rule firewall.
2. Application and network protection (with rules).
3. Languages allowed.
4. Low resources usage (RAM), but from time to time, the service takes huge CPU cicles.
5. Updated frequently at startup (could allow a little bit more configurability on this topic).
6. Forum support.
7. Beta program allowed.
8. Good protection (leak tests).
9. Balanced decision (allow or not) and security. Configurability.
10. Standalone application (not a suite).
11. Recognize networks at installation time. Recognize added networks (for instance, VMWare ones).
12. "Scan for Known Applications" feature. Although a small database of predefined applications.
13. Free and pro versions.
14. Packet filtering.

Cons (or could be better):
1. Logging is not that good.
2. Misses a 'save configuration'. Unfortunatelly, uses the Windows Registry for that and then we need to manage registry (export) to get it, manually. Registry cleaners interfere. There isn't a 'cleaner' for non-existent programs (that you allowed in the past). For the same reason, there isn't a import feature.
3. Does not show the path of the allowed application.
4. Requires a 'must have' path for installation.
5. Does not show a 'search' button for application and components (libraries) interface to search Google, for instance, and learn more about the allowed item.
6. Not skinnable. Poor GUI.
7. Requires registering (not automatic).
8. On installation, you can make the 'wrong' easy decision to use it as Windows Firewall, i.e., allowing all outbound connections.
9. Slow on login, I mean, the Windows Central Security accuses the absence of a firewall before Comodo is loaded. Fortunatelly, Comodo driver blocks input/output connections at this login time.
10. Memory management, I mean, driver takes other applications space on memory and could lead to crash. This was deeply improved on last versions.
11. To install a new version you need to uninstall the old one. It's a pity, generates too much work.
12. Does not allow to 'dismiss' parent application check while using, I mean, you need to open the settings panel to change the rules.
13. Not (yet) Vista compatible.

I mean, I once trialed it and didn't find it that great

Why not? What didn't you like it?

To be honest, it is probably no secret that we're working on our own PF and so I'd like to take your input as a constructive discussion of the final version of avast personal firewall.

Wow... we don't need to keep this secret anymore... Is Peter Kurtin working hard on it? Does the code advance since last winter?
As you can see by my first observations, Comodo has a lot of similarities with avast
Vlk, except our honored David with Outpost Pro, the most of the old guys here use Comodo right now.

Vlk, I suggest that you open a new board for the new firewall now, you can start discussion about firewalls etc. on this new board. I will either move this thread as the first of the new board.

[Rafel]

you've got the best security for free. No pro(high protection) and free(shit protection) like ZA or Kerio(now Sunbelt FW) or Outpost FW.
No problem with home lan. And no slowdown my PC
I use it with Comodo BOclean and AVAST! Free and SSM and other free products for on demmand. Not very difficult like Jetico(Jetico 1 will have no updates and v2 isn't free)
V3 will have HIPS, and he promises it will use little reources., then i'll unistall SSM free.
I feel quite safe.
I translated Comodo FW to Spanish of Spain(that is no my language.
Well, if AVASt makes a very good firewall, like Comodo, and it's available in catalan(my language) or spanish(my second language), i'll use AVAST! products.

Sorry my poor english

[news]

David says...

Choice is a wonderful thing, so if a suite does appear on the horizon, I trust you will continue the stand alone avast AV.

I personally despise suite's...totally.  I am in total agreement with David.  I chose avast! for this very reason...separate from other entities. Makes it nice to be able to pick and choose what you wish to use for protection on your pc.

No problem with avast! having a firewall....just please keep it separate from the wonderful antivirus software you have.....

[bob3160]

Fully agree with David and news.
I've worn a lot of "Suits" in my time...
Since my retirement,  I've learned that leisure wear (individual pieces of attire) is a much
more comfortable way to go. 
I'm actually looking for a nice casual 3 piece attire consisting of:

1. avast! Anti Virus          (Missiom accomplished!)
2. avast! Firewall             (Still at the taylor's)
3. Avast! Anti Spyware    (Still being designed )

Thanks

[MikeBCda]

I switched to Comodo from ZA a few months back when even the free version of the latter became bloatware.

From what I've heard, it's got excellent protection.  Better yet, from my point of view, there was virtually no learning curve involved in making the switch.