Conflicts between Avast 7.0.1426 and Comodo Free Firewall, fix needed

[Usicat]

I have XP SP3, Comodo Free Firewall (V5.10.228257.2253), and Avast V7.0.1426 installed, and, like some other users, found that while these 2 security apps appeared to work OK in XP's Primary User Account, in a Limited User Account conflicts caused some apps and/or XP itself to lock up, requiring a hard PC reboot to get out of.
           (See thread   http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=97199.0
             Subject: Re: Near total Freeze after update to 7.0.1426 )
 
Ran various configuration tests and found that:
(1) turning off or uninstalling either of those 2 security apps ends the freezing problems.
(2) if Comodo's Behavior Settings, separate for the Firewall and Defense+, are both set to Safe Mode or higher, then the freeze problems occur; however, if either one or both are set one notch lower to Training Mode, then no freeze-ups occur.

This is a somewhat lower level of safety, so, until Avast Support comes out with a fix, users might want to consider switching to a different firewall. I read that some time ago Avast had to engineer a conflict fix for the ZoneAlarm free firewall, so perhaps ZA will also work for Avast V7. I don't know if ZA is as secure as Comodo.

I tried to submit a submit a problem ticket to Comodo Support, but that part of their site appeared to be down - it kept asking for registration and the process went in circles, never allowing a ticket to be sent.

[iroc9555]

@ Usicat.

Open Avast! > Behavior Shield > Trusted Processes and add this Comodo files.

cfp.exe
cfpconfg.exe
cmdagent.exe

You also have to choose between Avast! Autosandbox or Comodo's

Go to Comodo > Defence + > Defence+ settings > Execution Control Settings > Buffer Overflow protection > Exclutions and add all Avast! folders from Program files and Documents & Settings

When the comp hangs and you have to hard reboot it go into safe mode open Comodo and check D+ events see if there is a file being sandbox by Comodo so that it can be added as a trusted file.

[Usicat]

UPDATE 4/18/2012 - this fix quit working. See my next reply.

@ Usicat.

Open Avast! > Behavior Shield > Trusted Processes and add this Comodo files.
cfp.exe
cfpconfg.exe
cmdagent.exe

@ iroc9555:
Thanks very much for your reply. I did the steps you suggested and so far Avast 7, Comodo Firewall and the formerly freezing apps appear to be working OK in both XP's Primary and Limited User Accounts. Previously, I thought I had made the correct exclusions, but evidently I didn't do it right.

I also discovered that some 3rd party RAM boosters can interfere with the latest versions of Avast and/or Comodo Firewall.

[iroc9555]

@ iroc9555:
Thanks very much for your reply. I did the steps you suggested and so far Avast 7, Comodo Firewall and the formerly freezing apps appear to be working OK in both XP's Primary and Limited User Accounts.

You are welcome. Glad it is working now 

[Usicat]

@ iroc9555:
Thanks very much for your reply. I did the steps you suggested and so far Avast 7, Comodo Firewall and the formerly freezing apps appear to be working OK in both XP's Primary and Limited User Accounts.

Well, I spoke too soon on April 16 when I said the problem of Comodo and Avast 7 causing apps & XP to freeze was gone:   the fix from iroc9555 did work at first, but then just 2 days later, for no apparent reason,  the same problem reappeared - Comodo, Avast, and all apps continued to work normally in XP's Primary User Account, but some apps (like browsers and E-mail clients) and XP itself, again freeze in the Limited User Account, requiring a hard computer re-boot to get out of. I then checked  for logged events in Comodo's Defense+, but no events were shown. The only thing I had done in the 2 days was to update one application, Malwarebytes, and a AV scan afterward did not show any viruses. Excluding Malwarebytes, then removing it altogether, did not have any effect. That reminds me - a bit fuzzy now - I think when this freezing problem first occurred with the initial update of Avast 7,  I had soon afterward updated a simple widely used PDF viewer, after which the freeze-ups began in XP's Limited User Account only. Perhaps updating any or just some applications will cause this to happen. Didn't happen with earlier versions of Comodo & Avast working together, so I don't know which is causing it.

So, this time, I uninstalled Comodo's 2012 Firewall (V5.10.228257.2253), and replaced it with their 2011 version (V5.3.181415.1237);  so far everything works, and now I'll just have to wait to find out if the problem recurs.  Keeping this year-old version of Comodo FW is not optimal - I seem to recall that it had updating problems. I would try ZoneAlarm's free firewall, but it's a huge download and there have been complaints about it.

[Usicat]

In my previous post I said:
So, this time, I uninstalled Comodo's 2012 Firewall (V5.10.228257.2253), and replaced it with their 2011 version (V5.3.181415.1237);  so far everything works, and now I'll just have to wait to find out if the problem recurs.

It didn't work for very long with Comodo's 2011 firewall either - the next time I powered up the computer the same problems returned, system freeze-ups in XP's Limited User Account. I had used that 2011 firewall with an early Avast V6 last year and they worked together OK until Avast was updated to V7, so it must be that Avast 7 is the problem, not the Comodo Firewall.

Now trying it with sandboxing disabled in both Comodo Firewall and Avast 7.0.1426, plus one Avast Real-Time Shield (IM Shield) turned off, as I don't use any flavor of instant messaging. So far everything seems to work in both XP Primary and Limited User Accounts, so we'll see if that contiinues. If it does, next I'll try it with all of Avast's Real-Time Shields enabled while leaving all sandboxing disabled. Stay tuned.

[Usicat]

In my last post I said:
So, this time, I uninstalled Comodo's 2012 Firewall (V5.10.228257.2253), and replaced it with their 2011 version (V5.3.181415.1237);  so far everything works, and now I'll just have to wait to find out if the problem recurs.

and then
Now trying it with sandboxing disabled in both Comodo Firewall and Avast 7.0.1426, plus one Avast Real-Time Shield (IM Shield) turned off, as I don't use any flavor of instant messaging. So far everything seems to work in both XP Primary and Limited User Accounts, so we'll see if that contiinues. If it does, next I'll try it with all of Avast's Real-Time Shields enabled while leaving all sandboxing disabled. Stay tuned.

I give up. A day or 2 later the freeze-up problems erratically returned mostly in XP's Limited User Account, and also sometimes in the Primary User Account. No firewall warnings popped up, and no unusual events were logged. Sometimes all apps worked OK, and then the next time opening some or any of them might cause the user account to partially or completely lock up, requiring a re-boot to get out of. No amount of fiddling with excludes and sandboxes helped -  the only way I could get Avast 7 to work all the time with Comodo's free firewall was either to turn off all real-time shields in Avast, or Defense+ in Comodo's firewall.

The present versions of Avast 7 & Comodo firewall just don't play well together; there are also many complaints about this in the Comodo forums. I hope updates can be made that resolve this, otherwise I will have to replace on or the other.

[polarowl]

More or less the same combinations as in earlier posts on this threat .. tried shutting down avast sandbox and the comodo sandbox, closing the avast behaviour shield etc but the freezing on start up continues for me, using the latest Avast free and comodo firewall. Had to uninstall Avast (which fixed the freezing) and for now off to Microsoft Security Essentials until someone bothers to fix these conflicts.

[true indian]

for now off to Microsoft Security Essentials until someone bothers to fix these conflicts.

You may want to check the link in my signature below 

[polarowl]

for now off to Microsoft Security Essentials until someone bothers to fix these conflicts.

You may want to check the link in my signature below 

Yeah well I hear what you are saying and I agree Avast Free is a great av, but the problem is I want to be able to use my pc, not sit in front of it all day pushing the off button time & again after the usual start up freeze because Avast free & Comodo firewall wont work together ...

Whatever these conflicts are surely someone can have a go at fixing it and come up with a permanent solution ... so until then I'll just have to settle for a less effective free av so that at least I can use my pc. There are obviously other people in the same boat as me, so have a go at it guys, and get it fixed.

[essexboy]

Why not remove Comodo ?

[drummerman]

I too use Comodo and Avast (and I too hope for a solution to the conflict between the two, apparently it will be fixed in the next Comodo program release) but my laptop has never blue screened/crashed.

I did however experience slow loading. Whilst I was sure this had something to do with Avast for some time I then prevented the AV from starting yet the problem persisted. - I eventually traced it back to a faulty driver update for my wireless card. Un and re-installing of the driver seemed to have solved the issue mostly.

Not willing to give up Comodo as firewall I have followed Chiron's guide to configure it;

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-install-comodo-firewall.htm

until the conflict has been resolved.

regards

[polarowl]

Why not remove Comodo ?

It's a good firewall, and better than the one that comes in Avast Internet Security, so I'd rather give up Avast (which seems to be causing the problems with comodo firewall & frozen pc start ups) until these conflicts have been resolved.

[MAG]

Why not remove Comodo ?

It's a good firewall, and better than the one that comes in Avast Internet Security, so I'd rather give up Avast (which seems to be causing the problems with comodo firewall & frozen pc start ups) until these conflicts have been resolved.

So why not use Comodo free internet security with av and Fw/D+ to avoid conflicts until the avast conflict is resolved?

The Av seems not to have performed too well in tests, but the FW/D+ is a very strong combination

[essexboy]

I have no problems with AIS firewall....  Why do we always have these problems with Comodo, do they not test their programmes before they release them.  Or do they not care