Hi all.
Nice discussion going on here, as we all await the Avast suite to be made available.
Adding my own user experience on the same. I myself am using Avast as AV, along with Comodo as firewall.
As earlier posters have rightly pointed out, there is no separate "Comodo Firewall" product available at their website. The only product available is "Comodo Internet Security Suite" (CIS). The reason for this was simple, whatever justification they may give on their site. They wanted their new Anti-virus product to ride in on the goodwill and popularity of their existing Firewall product, by offering it compulsarily as a Suite. However, based on user feedback (including my own), they have made one important advancement. While earlier the installer file was a huge 110MB+, now it has got reduced to a more manageble <40MB file. While they still bundle both the Firewall and the AV installer, the size reduction is by removing the virus database. Users who choose the AV product subsequently need to download the virus database.
There are few imp. things to be remembered while installing Comodo Firewall, after downloading the CIS installer file.
- When you hover mouse over the CIS installer file, the computer may freeze for few seconds (known to happen on some systems, esp. XP SP2) as Avast takes some time to scan the file. This is a issure related not to CIS directly, but the wrapper used to compress the installer package.
- Be sure to TICK only Firewall when the screen presents the option to choose Firewall and/or Antivirus.
-Be sure to UNTICK the installation of 'Hopsurf toolbar' and whatever else is ticked by default on the Hopsurf installation screen
- In case you do not want many pop-ups, do not choose to install DEFENSE+ component. The 'Defense+' is the HIPS component of the firewall.
Till now i have not faced any compatibility issues of using Avast and Comodo firewall together.
- Comodo is now a suite and you have to do a custom install so as not to install the antivirus element (or use the add remove programs to remove the AV element if already installed), of all the firewalls listed this seems to be the noisiest in asking questions, depending on settings and elements used, so it could be daunting for those not to familiar with firewalls or their systems.
A correction is due. Almost all the 'noise' in Comodo Firewall is generated by the Defense+ component (that is the HIPS component). A user may choose not to install it at the beginning itself, or there is always the option of turning it off anytime after installation. Depends on how much security the user wants to have, or whether HIPS is desired or nor.