| Author |
Message |
Richard Steinfeld
Guest
|
 Posted:
Fri Nov 18, 2005 9:22 am Post subject:
Comodo Personal Firewall |
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There's been a lot of traffic on the Wilders and Avast sites about
Comodo Personal Firewall. It's freeware.
But I can't recall that anyone's mentioned how the thing actually performs.
Although the program is released by a reputable and trusted publisher in
New Jersey, the program's site is strangely deficient in clarity as well
as basic information, such as what the requirements are in order to run
it. My impression is that this program's source is someplace extremely
off-shore.
With the intention of trying it on one computer still running Windows ME
before using it on two boxes running XP Professional, I ran into a brick
wall: a message that indeed, it doesn't want to see anything earlier
than the NTFS file system.
Can anyone provide insight into whether it's worth persuing this program
further?
Thanks
Richard |
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earlybird
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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"Richard Steinfeld" <rgsteinBUTREMOVETHIS@sonic.net> wrote in message
| Quote: | There's been a lot of traffic on the Wilders and Avast sites about
Comodo Personal Firewall
With the intention of trying it on one computer still running Windows ME
before using it on two boxes running XP Professional, I ran into a brick
wall: a message that indeed, it doesn't want to see anything earlier
than the NTFS file system.
|
NTFS for a firewall?
Ok. I think that makes Sygate the only freeware candidate left for W98SE.
Let's hope this tread give me more clues about Comodo. |
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Richard Steinfeld
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Nov 18, 2005 11:45 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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earlybird wrote:
| Quote: | "Richard Steinfeld" <rgsteinBUTREMOVETHIS@sonic.net> wrote in message
There's been a lot of traffic on the Wilders and Avast sites about
Comodo Personal Firewall
With the intention of trying it on one computer still running Windows ME
before using it on two boxes running XP Professional, I ran into a brick
wall: a message that indeed, it doesn't want to see anything earlier
than the NTFS file system.
NTFS for a firewall?
Ok. I think that makes Sygate the only freeware candidate left for W98SE.
Let's hope this tread give me more clues about Comodo.
|
What I'm implying is that the Comodo installation routine will not run
in Windows 9x. I don't know if the program itself will or won't run in
Windows 9x. The company has provided no information about requirements
on its site. I have queried them twice and have received no answer about
this question. They did reply to me, by the way, about something, but
the responder's writing was so unclear that I didn't know which problem
he was addressing. Obviously, it wasn't the platform question.
Richard |
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earlybird
Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Nov 19, 2005 5:00 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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"Richard Steinfeld" <rgsteinBUTREMOVETHIS@sonic.net> wrote in message
| Quote: | What I'm implying is that the Comodo installation routine will not run
in Windows 9x. I don't know if the program itself will or won't run in
Windows 9x. The company has provided no information about requirements
on its site. I have queried them twice and have received no answer about
this question. They did reply to me, by the way, about something, but
the responder's writing was so unclear that I didn't know which problem
he was addressing. Obviously, it wasn't the platform question.
|
the more you write, the more doubts I get.
I visit their site and found :
- Fill out the form below with your name and email address to download
Comodo Personal Firewall
- Your activation code will be sent to the email address given.
- Please activate Comodo Personal Firewall in order to get your free
license.
a lot of registration trouble for a one year free firewall. Is it finally
free after 2, 3 , 4? contacts with their site?
From the avast forum :
- Ages to boot and completely broken connection.
- Comodo couldn't even connect to it's own servers to verify my lisence.
to verify my license? Sounds to me as a phone home tool.
Every time I boot I have to get permission to use that firewall or their
site get some info? Great!
I'm sorry for Comodo, but I still treat their firewall as spyware.
It's my computer and it's my security concern and I don't risk my security
with this firewall.
Even if it is the best firewall ever I don't trust it, too much spyware
behaviour. |
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Richard Steinfeld
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Nov 22, 2005 9:22 am Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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earlybird wrote:
| Quote: | "Richard Steinfeld" <rgsteinBUTREMOVETHIS@sonic.net> wrote in message
What I'm implying is that the Comodo installation routine will not run
in Windows 9x. I don't know if the program itself will or won't run in
Windows 9x. The company has provided no information about requirements
on its site. I have queried them twice and have received no answer about
this question. They did reply to me, by the way, about something, but
the responder's writing was so unclear that I didn't know which problem
he was addressing. Obviously, it wasn't the platform question.
the more you write, the more doubts I get.
I visit their site and found :
- Fill out the form below with your name and email address to download
Comodo Personal Firewall
- Your activation code will be sent to the email address given.
- Please activate Comodo Personal Firewall in order to get your free
license.
a lot of registration trouble for a one year free firewall. Is it finally
free after 2, 3 , 4? contacts with their site?
From the avast forum :
- Ages to boot and completely broken connection.
- Comodo couldn't even connect to it's own servers to verify my lisence.
to verify my license? Sounds to me as a phone home tool.
Every time I boot I have to get permission to use that firewall or their
site get some info? Great!
I'm sorry for Comodo, but I still treat their firewall as spyware.
It's my computer and it's my security concern and I don't risk my security
with this firewall.
Even if it is the best firewall ever I don't trust it, too much spyware
behaviour.
Well, I think I'm beginning to agree with you in one or two respects. |
It's not the activation code: cctivation codes sent to the user are not
unusual these days. It seems to be one strategy to keep the publisher's
site and/or email from being bombarded by spammers: this is a real problem.
But unfortunately, the behavior of the company and the state of their
web site for this product seem at the alpha stage. I haven't even tried
the program, although I did receive a download. There's been no spam.
But I don't want to be an "alpha tester." I may or may not try out the
program, but I'm inclined not to -- especially since my return email
from the publisher was so unclear as to be useless, and my request for
clarfication was unanswered.
Richard
It's strange that |
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earlybird
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Nov 22, 2005 5:01 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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|
"Richard Steinfeld" wrote in message
| Quote: | But I don't want to be an "alpha tester." I may or may not try out the
program, but I'm inclined not to
|
Oops, alpha tester? No thank you. That requires a lot of communication and
no interaction from Murphy's law.
I was testing something and had finished the email responce and my provider
went down for 48 hours and the other site was waiting and waiting and was
wondering why I didn't answer.
I love open endings ;-)
it's strange that .... we are the only two talking about Comodo
it's strange that .... nobody answered who use Comodo
it's strange that .... their site looks so official ( also does phishing
sites ) and after months no Comodo-user has respond who really uses the
program.
From time to time people are asking about Comodo in newsgroups. Well, maybe
in the next year I get more clues.
But using Win98SE and Linux I don't think I will ever use or test Comodo.
Thanks a lot for your answers about Comodo. |
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Richard Steinfeld
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:59 am Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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earlybird wrote:
| Quote: | "Richard Steinfeld" wrote in message
But I don't want to be an "alpha tester." I may or may not try out the
program, but I'm inclined not to
Oops, alpha tester? No thank you. That requires a lot of communication and
no interaction from Murphy's law.
I was testing something and had finished the email responce and my provider
went down for 48 hours and the other site was waiting and waiting and was
wondering why I didn't answer.
It's strange that
I love open endings ;-)
it's strange that .... we are the only two talking about Comodo
it's strange that .... nobody answered who use Comodo
it's strange that .... their site looks so official ( also does phishing
sites ) and after months no Comodo-user has respond who really uses the
program.
From time to time people are asking about Comodo in newsgroups. Well, maybe
in the next year I get more clues.
But using Win98SE and Linux I don't think I will ever use or test Comodo.
Thanks a lot for your answers about Comodo.
It's been an interesting dialogue. And, yes, it does seem that we're the |
only two prople discussing this program on two newsgroups. I, too, am
still using Windows 9x (ME), but moving completely to XP. As I mentioned
previously, I've determined that Comodo will not run in Windows 9x.
It does seem strange, too, not only that we're the only people talking
about Comodo, but that as I recall, on the two web boards where people
are discussing this program, there's been a lot of discussion, but
-zero- reports by anyone who'se actually used it! Some of the discussion
has involved strange action -- automatic jumping to a completely
different publisher, for example (who is probably affiliated).
And, who is the actual publisher?
My hunch is that this program is being developed by people in eastern
Europe -- only one of whom can communicate in English, and only barely.
I have no objection to this, after all, if the situation were reversed,
I could not communicate in Romanian. And some very fine software is
coming from eastern Europe (I've just installed Kaspirsky AV/Firewall on
one machine). And a very good firewall is from the island of Cyprus (my
point being that good programmers/developers don't only exist in the
"first world.").
I think that what's especially enticing about Comodo is that the
scuttlebut is that it's the only program that I know of that can
actually block the "tooleaky" firewall test. But without any other
knowledge, we don't know so much more -- like, what's the cost of this
performance: will it bloat the entire system, consume vast resources and
so many time slices that the computer will be almost useless for getting
any work done.
It's fun to be on the leading edge sometimes. However, I'm feeling
burned out since I recently tested a whole bunch of text editors and
every freeware metronome I could find. For real-world text work, by the
way, every one of the editors flunked. They are probably fine for
programmers, and really should be called "programmers editors."
I've decided to (for the two machines that don't have Kaspirsky) stick
with the now-legacy Sygate for my firewall. As a backgrounder, on the
third machine, I'm using the System Mechanic utility suite (payware),
which is bundled with a year's worth of Kaspirsky firewall and antivirus.
Richard |
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Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Nov 24, 2005 3:01 am Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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here are some people who used Comodo Personal Firewall and some tests
they have done
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=f3100cb0365ede0d4ca0307d65a49e02&topic=17020.45
and here is a link to a page where Comodo people have answered about
whether the Comodo Personal Firewall will be free or not after 1 year
(it will be free)
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=17020.60
----- Original Message -----
From: Desktop Personal Firewall - Comodo
To: Sasha
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2005 7:15 AM
Subject: Re: Need brief info regarding Comodo firewall [193973:210450]
Hi Sasha,
Product will remain free you dont need to pay but as you said you have
to re-registed.
you dont need to pay or switch to any other product.
Regards
Allan
Technical Support |
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earlybird
Guest
|
| Posted:
Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
|
|
<comodogroup@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1132779710.951471.74010@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | here are some people who used Comodo Personal Firewall and some tests
they have done
|
it would be nice if you answered at least some of our questions in this
newsgroup.
Is it NTFS based? Which OS? Version update policy? Etc.
It's nice that there is an Avast forum for Comodo but if you want more info
from an Avast picture link you get the message :
-- It seems that you are not allowed to download or view attachments on this
board.
-- Please login below or register an account with avast!WEBforum.
Not the best way to find Comodo info; isn't it?
Some hints for a better Comodo presentation :
- The Comodo site could show Comodo shots ( and from the other products )
- the Comodo site should show the requirements
- a good installation program shouldn't ask for contacting the site for
further info and/or programs.
A program works or doesn't work on a platform; all the neccesary files
should be included.
If a program doesn't work on WIN98/WINME/? the install program should
abort without installing anything;
It's not that difficult to test the OS. |
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Guest
|
| Posted:
Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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Hi,
At Comodo we are commited to providing high quality free desktop
products.
All we ask in return is that you continue to register the product.
And support is free.
As we get feedback on the products we will continue to evolve them.
Any customer wishing to report an issue can do by emailing
personalfirewall@comodo.com
were the technical support team will assist 24 hours a day 7 days a
week.
Garry Bickerton
Head of Global Support and Customer Care Manager
comodogroup@gmail.com wrote:
| Quote: | here are some people who used Comodo Personal Firewall and some tests
they have done
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=f3100cb0365ede0d4ca0307d65a49e02&topic=17020.45
and here is a link to a page where Comodo people have answered about
whether the Comodo Personal Firewall will be free or not after 1 year
(it will be free)
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=17020.60
----- Original Message -----
From: Desktop Personal Firewall - Comodo
To: Sasha
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2005 7:15 AM
Subject: Re: Need brief info regarding Comodo firewall [193973:210450]
Hi Sasha,
Product will remain free you dont need to pay but as you said you have
to re-registed.
you dont need to pay or switch to any other product.
Regards
Allan
Technical Support |
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Guest
|
| Posted:
Fri Nov 25, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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|
To answer your questions, or at least the ones I think you are asking:
The system requirements are (which will appear on the web site soon):
Windows 2000/Windows XP SP2
Internet Explorer Version 5.1 or above
32 MB available RAM
15 MB of available free hard disk space
You mention alpha, we do not do alpha testing, we dont do Beta versions
etc
By the time the product reaches market it has already been tested
extensively.
Obviously not ALL situations can be covered, as with any software.
Once we get feedback we can then simulate and fix accordingly.
The reason the application must contact the web site is to
automatically
install the license from the license code we send.
This avoids manual intervention from the user having to download and
install a file to a specific location....and it works well.
We only ask for Name and email address for the license.
I don't know where 'Spyware' comes into this from earlier in this
newsgroup,
this product is most definitely not spyware, it doesn't gather
information from
the machine and it doesn't return any information to our servers, so
how can it
be spyware?
Unless your definition of Spyware is somehow different?
One question was 'Who is the Publisher'?
Comodo is, and we are a global company with our head office in the USA.
We also have various offices around the world, including R&D in the UK.
Feel free to let me know if you have any further questions.
I will take on board your suggestions for improvement and pass them to
the relevant department owners.
Comodo - Creating Trust Online
earlybird wrote:
| Quote: | comodogroup@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1132779710.951471.74010@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
here are some people who used Comodo Personal Firewall and some tests
they have done
it would be nice if you answered at least some of our questions in this
newsgroup.
Is it NTFS based? Which OS? Version update policy? Etc.
It's nice that there is an Avast forum for Comodo but if you want more info
from an Avast picture link you get the message :
-- It seems that you are not allowed to download or view attachments on this
board.
-- Please login below or register an account with avast!WEBforum.
Not the best way to find Comodo info; isn't it?
Some hints for a better Comodo presentation :
- The Comodo site could show Comodo shots ( and from the other products )
- the Comodo site should show the requirements
- a good installation program shouldn't ask for contacting the site for
further info and/or programs.
A program works or doesn't work on a platform; all the neccesary files
should be included.
If a program doesn't work on WIN98/WINME/? the install program should
abort without installing anything;
It's not that difficult to test the OS. |
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earlybird
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
|
|
<garry@comodo.com> wrote in message
thank's for dropping in
| Quote: | By the time the product reaches market it has already been tested
extensively.
Obviously not ALL situations can be covered, as with any software.
Once we get feedback we can then simulate and fix accordingly.
|
no, you couldn't. Even if your software is for XP computers there are to
much combinations in the field.
I could hangup a specific program with 2 mouse clicks and the author
couldn't recreate it.
I think your company has much more testing possiblities, but sometimes you
have to accept that it wont'work.
Let's say a computer has 256 Mb memory; you don't know if it's 1 * 128 Mb +
2 * 64 Mb or whatever combination.
It could be important for a problem.
It's good to have beta testers in the field; I think it gives a product more
trust.
| Quote: | The reason the application must contact the web site is to
automatically install the license from the license code we send.
This avoids manual intervention from the user having to download and
install a file to a specific location....and it works well.
|
of course this will works well; XP users are stupid ;-) and are not capable
to download and install anything if it requires their intervention. Sony's
rootkit software also works extremely well.
It is an option to skip the user interaction, but I don't like it and never
use this software.
I think you will understand that there are people who refuses this
construction; they only install software offline.
If I want to do a re-installation or install it on another computer I always
have to contact the "license site". Oh dear.
Could you use as a privat person the Comodo firewall on more then one
computer ( let's say for testing your own LAN for weakness from within? ).
Testing Comodo ( but why should I or must I; you say it's safe ) seems no
option. OK, how about a compare with my current firewall? Do you have to
activate your firewall within 24 hours after receiving the email for getting
the license or could you activate it next month and could you activate your
license again and again after once having recieved the license code?
| Quote: | We only ask for Name and email address for the license.
|
sounds great but this is a mistake. You get more info ( like the real IP
info ) when the application contacts the website.
| Quote: | I don't know where 'Spyware' comes into this from earlier in this
newsgroup, |
very easy; if a program needs to contact a site for further information it
is considered as spyware.
| Quote: | this product is most definitely not spyware, it doesn't gather
information from the machine and it doesn't return any information to our
servers, so
how can it be spyware?
|
that's how you want to read it. No information to our servers, but maybe to
another server?
Zonealarm did; if I remember it well they call it they had to check the
fingerprints from virusses, trojans, etc.
The average user is to stupid to know which application is allowed or not
allowed to contact the internet, so this type of user always granted
whatever program internet permission. To prevent this behaviour the
application "phoned home" to ask what to do.
For now Comodo seems a firewall for people without questions; just like the
build-in XP firewall ( SP1 ) which doesn't protect you for outgoing traffic.
Microsoft tells you it just works great, but are you well protected enough?
No way.
One more Comodo question. You have the construction :
programs/applications --> local proxy like Proxomitron --> firewall -->
internet access
Could Comodo block unwanted access through a local proxy? |
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Guest
|
| Posted:
Tue Nov 29, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
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|
'If I want to do a re-installation or install it on another computer I
always
have to contact the "license site". Oh dear'.
Not true.....it is possible to copy the license between machines after
it is successfully installed on one.
'Do you have to activate your firewall within 24 hours after receiving
the email'?
No, it sits there waiting to be collected...no time limit, why should
we, its free.
However, we do set a limit on the number of collections of that
license.
But we do not restrict anyone from signing up again.
You say its a mistake that we log the IP the request comes from, I
disagree, we don't
subsequently use that information in anyway.
The IP allows us to reasonably provide customers the right currency
pricing, when
they apply for any product that is purchased.
'if a program needs to contact a site for further information it is
considered spyware', i'm
sorry and no offense, but that is the weakest reason I have ever heard,
and if that is
the case then all search toolbars would be classed as spyware as they
contact a database
via the website and provide the results.
Spyware is by definition: Any software that covertly gathers user
information through
the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually
for advertising purposes.
Our Firewall does not do that, and does not store any data on any of
our servers relating
to the customers information. Except the IP as mentioned earlier.
'Could Comodo block unwanted access through a local proxy'?
I had to ask our developers on this one, that answer came back:
It will ask 2 questions in case of a local proxy :
1. for the application which is trying to connect to the local proxy
2. for the proxy server which is trying to connect to the internet, the
actual connection
attempt will be caught when the proxy server tries to connect.
Comodo - Creating Trust Online
earlybird wrote:
| Quote: | garry@comodo.com> wrote in message
thank's for dropping in
By the time the product reaches market it has already been tested
extensively.
Obviously not ALL situations can be covered, as with any software.
Once we get feedback we can then simulate and fix accordingly.
no, you couldn't. Even if your software is for XP computers there are to
much combinations in the field.
I could hangup a specific program with 2 mouse clicks and the author
couldn't recreate it.
I think your company has much more testing possiblities, but sometimes you
have to accept that it wont'work.
Let's say a computer has 256 Mb memory; you don't know if it's 1 * 128 Mb +
2 * 64 Mb or whatever combination.
It could be important for a problem.
It's good to have beta testers in the field; I think it gives a product more
trust.
The reason the application must contact the web site is to
automatically install the license from the license code we send.
This avoids manual intervention from the user having to download and
install a file to a specific location....and it works well.
of course this will works well; XP users are stupid ;-) and are not capable
to download and install anything if it requires their intervention. Sony's
rootkit software also works extremely well.
It is an option to skip the user interaction, but I don't like it and never
use this software.
I think you will understand that there are people who refuses this
construction; they only install software offline.
If I want to do a re-installation or install it on another computer I always
have to contact the "license site". Oh dear.
Could you use as a privat person the Comodo firewall on more then one
computer ( let's say for testing your own LAN for weakness from within? ).
Testing Comodo ( but why should I or must I; you say it's safe ) seems no
option. OK, how about a compare with my current firewall? Do you have to
activate your firewall within 24 hours after receiving the email for getting
the license or could you activate it next month and could you activate your
license again and again after once having recieved the license code?
We only ask for Name and email address for the license.
sounds great but this is a mistake. You get more info ( like the real IP
info ) when the application contacts the website.
I don't know where 'Spyware' comes into this from earlier in this
newsgroup,
very easy; if a program needs to contact a site for further information it
is considered as spyware.
this product is most definitely not spyware, it doesn't gather
information from the machine and it doesn't return any information to our
servers, so
how can it be spyware?
that's how you want to read it. No information to our servers, but maybe to
another server?
Zonealarm did; if I remember it well they call it they had to check the
fingerprints from virusses, trojans, etc.
The average user is to stupid to know which application is allowed or not
allowed to contact the internet, so this type of user always granted
whatever program internet permission. To prevent this behaviour the
application "phoned home" to ask what to do.
For now Comodo seems a firewall for people without questions; just like the
build-in XP firewall ( SP1 ) which doesn't protect you for outgoing traffic.
Microsoft tells you it just works great, but are you well protected enough?
No way.
One more Comodo question. You have the construction :
programs/applications --> local proxy like Proxomitron --> firewall --
internet access
Could Comodo block unwanted access through a local proxy? |
|
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earlybird
Guest
|
| Posted:
Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject:
Re: Comodo Personal Firewall |
|
|
<garry@comodo.com> wrote about the Comodo firewall
.... skipped all; see previous message for the questions/answers.
thanks a lot for your answers
| Quote: | It will ask 2 questions in case of a local proxy :
1. for the application which is trying to connect to the local proxy
|
Sounds like the Comodo firewall solved this (big) firewall problem.
I would love to test this, but I don't use XP+SP2
| Quote: | 2. for the proxy server which is trying to connect to the internet, the
actual connection attempt will be caught when the proxy server
tries to connect.
|
It would be a shame if it doesn't :-).
| Quote: | if that is the case then all search toolbars would be classed as
spyware as they contact a database
|
there is a lot to do and talking about this item.
For example : if you buy at Amazon you get "tips" what other people who also
bought that item also bought or/and the advertising is user related
depending on the things you already bought or searched for.
Company's call it personalised advertising or something like that and they
also say there only purpose is for statistics.
Is a (search)toolbar an information collecting program or spyware? If it
only contacts the database you might be right, but there is more activity.
If a user don't know what information is send to a site when Comodo installs
itself it is placed in the spyware catagory.
There are already too much programs for which this is normal behaviour. Wait
one year and every program phones home under XP.
If this is bad or not or unwanted or not is not a Comodo firewall question;
this thread is about the Comodo firewall.
| Quote: | You say its a mistake that we log the IP the request comes from, I
disagree
|
I didn't wrote that; I only wrote that you got more info when someone
contacts a site.
(( > > We only ask for Name and email address for the license.
| Quote: | sounds great but this is a mistake. You get more info ( like the real
IP
info ) when the application contacts the website. )) |
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