Manual uninstall of CFP 2.x

[Guest]

[fidmas]

Hi Guys,

I hope I'm [Replying] in the right place.

After going through the agony of completely removing Norton, after suffering with it for 5 years on XP SP2, anything must be better.  I did the required dance of downloading the Norton Removal Tool and running it from Safe Mode.  Then changed permissions an several directories, so an administrator could delete them.  Then removed anything "Norton" or "Symantec" from the registry.  Then ran CCleaner to kill what I didn't find.  Finally I was able to install AVG Free Anti-Virus.  Works like a charm and the system got faster. :-)

However I had this nagging feeling that the Inbound Only Windows Firewall and my Inbound Only DSL Router's Firewall just may not be enough.  It would be nice to prevent a worm, that might sneak in, from calling home.

Comodo seemed like the perfect solution, beating out the now "bloated" ZA.  After all, if it didn't live up to expectations, it could always be simply removed, unlike Norton.  Right?

Well after reading this thread, it seems not! :-( This thread implies to me that "comodo Uninstall.zip" isn't *always* enough.

I have the Comodo Firewall sitting here all set to install, but don't have the time or inclination to spend days or weeks trying to get rid of it should it break something.  I certainly can't re-install XP and SP2 and all my development applications for the sake of a problematic Firewall either.

Can anyone direct me to an "approved" removal procedure if there is one, or is it a "do whatever you can and pray" type of thing?  I'd like to try this, but the diversity of removal recommendation in this thread is making me more than a little hesitant.

Any advice?

[Little Mac]

Welcome to the forums, fidmas ~

This thread is actually about the removal of version 2.4 of Comodo Firewall, for those folks with issues.

v3, the current "brain-child" of Comodo has an even smoother process than 2.4. 

As far as problems, while there are obviously people who have experienced issues with either/any version of the FW, I personally have not experienced any such problems during the course of beta-testing multiple versions, installing on multiple machines, and so on.  I've been through close to 50 installs of these firewalls and not had any issues. 

I don't personally think that problems are the norm, or that I'm the odd man out on it.  I think that the issues are system-specific, and relate to some low-level conflict with other running software.  It's always a good idea to shut down all unnecessary processes (especially security and system-monitoring applications) during install/uninstall.

I don't think you have anything to worry about with v3, and on the chance that you do experience some difficulty (whether install-related or something else), there's a plethora of help available here in the forums.  Ultimately though, you have to go with what you're comfortable with. 

Hope that helps,

LM

[Komodoismalware]

i recently tried to uninstall comodo before reading any of the posts here and quickly realized there is no uninstal button, so i erased what i could of it in "program files". after i did this all that was left was "cmd.agent" which could not be erased.
so the next thing i did was try to open "regedit" only to find the "acess denied, you may not have appropriate permissions to use that item" message popping up. the message also pops up when i try to download any file or open any file except picture files and the like.
I AM AT THE POINT NOW WHERE I JUST WANT THIS OFF MY PC !
iF I CAN'T get it off can someone please tell me a way to back up my files without being able to system restore, regedit,etc. because i cant even re-install comodo or download anything that will remove it let alone open any executables. i do have internet acess but just about everything else is locked up, even as on ADMIN acct. I JUST WANT MY PC BACK TO NORMAL but i cant even clean install windows untill i save my data which is not possible at this point, since i cant download anything that will help or acess my own registry
ABSOLUTELY THE WORST UNINSTALL EXPERIENCE EVER! please , please HELP!

[Komodoismalware]

btw im running windows xp media center if that helps any, like i said, at this point i would just like to get comodo out of the registry but cant try any of your download/registry suggestions until i can have acess to them or would like to just safely winzip and burn files to a disk but am being denied acess to that also

[Little Mac]

If you log in to SafeMode, unessential processes and services will not be running (ie, the FW won't be running), you may safely create backups of your files to external USB.  You may not be able to burn CD/DVDs, but something like a thumb drive should be fine.

Not sure what you mean by "realized there is no uninstall button" nor what steps you took to uninstall, but I'm sorry you're having so much trouble. 

LM

[Dennis2]

btw im running windows xp media center if that helps any, like i said, at this point i would just like to get comodo out of the registry but cant try any of your download/registry suggestions until i can have acess to them or would like to just safely winzip and burn files to a disk but am being denied acess to that also

Have you tried Safemode (F8) to remove cmd.agent

[Komodoismalware]

removed cmdagent.exe in safemode and im pretty sure the comodofirewall.exe was erased over the first time i tried to get the program off.
what i meant before was that it didnt give me the option to uninstall when i tried, but that's niether here nor there really at this point just trying to back up files, or even better remove what's causing me to be locked out of them.

not sure what to look for in the registry without screwing it up royally, and dont have external hard drive to back files up the usb way at this time.

thank u for your instant replies that is very helpful i thought id be waiting for days.

[Komodoismalware]

still getting "acess denied you may not have appropriate permissions" errors

[Komodoismalware]

I'd also like to say that this is one of the best firewalls i've ever seen before i go on saying negative things about it but the removal process is very very hard. as i've noticed from googling it, others have had the same issues and not an easy resolution.

[Little Mac]

Tnx for the additional info. 

What operating system do you have?

LM

[Komodoismalware]

Windows Xp Media center edition...i got some clean OS disks to reinstall once  i can figure this whole thing out too, just unsure about how to make backups or if i can just reinstall windows right over the old one...but i dont think that would fix the registry problem unless i just start fresh or remove the problem, backup files, clean instal etc.

[Little Mac]

Tnx, now I see where you said the OS before; sorry for asking again.  Just to confirm, that you are using version 2.4 of the firewall (blue GUI), correct?

LM

[Komodoismalware]

honestly i'm not even sure what color the user interface was now,white maybe? because i cant see the icon in my toolbar anymore and whatever parts of it that are operational are only in the backround blocking me out of my files. it may or may not have been 2.4 but i cant see any of it at all anymore since after partially deleting it. thanks for the posts thus far.

[Komodoismalware]

ive been at this all day now...gah so frustrating

[Little Mac]

Okay, let's take these steps:

1.  Boot into SafeMode.
2.  Go to Start/Run, type in "services.msc" (no quotes)
3.  Look for an entry related to Comodo Firewall (CPF, CFP, cmdagent, etc); I'd be specific but I dont' remember for 2.4 at this point.  With v3 it's COMODO Firewall Pro Helper Service (but not with 2.4)
4.  Disable the service in Properties; close Services window

5.  Go to Start/Run, type in "devmgmt.msc" (no quotes)
6.  Go to View, and click Show Hidden Devices
7.  Scroll down to Non PlugNPlay Device Drivers
8.  Identify the two entries for Comodo; disable them, close the Device Manager

9.  Go to Start/Run, type "msconfig" (no quotes)
10.  Go to the Startup tab
11.  Uncheck entry for CFP; Apply, and Close.

12.  Reboot into Windows.  See if that gets you in.

LM

PS:  If that does get you back into Windows (and I hope it does), then we'll just have to export your data (as a fail-safe) and then start removing the residue of the whole mess from registry and whatnot.

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