Setting Comodo To Ask About Every Program

[Guest]

[Clack]

Hello. I'm rolling up my sleeves, and beginning to use the Comodo firewall with Windows 7.

So far, it's been really nice, but there are a couple of things that I'd like it to do, so I thought I'd register here and ask for help. Hope that's okay.

The first thing I'd like Comodo to do, is notify me with a popup when any program tries to access the internet. I'm not looking to be notified when a program tries to run, mind you... but it sure would be helpful to see which processes are attempting to connect to the net, and have the option to allow or not allow.

I know that Comodo does this for some programs already, but basic programs on my PC seem to connect without my ever having been asked, like Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, the svchost process, and my Norton Antivirus executable processes. These are always processes that I allow anyway, but not being notified has me worried about what other processes might be connecting, and I'd never know it. Does that make any sense?

The other thing I was wondering, is whether there's a way to set the default on the popup window when I am asked whether to allow or deny, so that the "Remember My Answer" box is unchecked by default. That would help a lot when I have to make a quick decision, and I wouldn't have to go back later and change the permission if I mistakenly allow a permanent permission.

Comodo looks to be a great firewall, and I hope there's a way to do this so I can use it comfortably from now on. That would be great!

[Matty_R]

Welcome to the forums Clack,

Looks like you need to set the Firewall to "Custom" mode and the Alert settings to at least High. Go to Firewall->Advanced->Firewall Behaviour Settings and move the slider up to Custom, then move the Alert settings to High(there is a summary of each setting given).
When in this configuration you will receive a pop-up for any application trying to connect out which doesn`t have an entry for it in "Network Security Policy"
Please be aware though that the entry "Windows Updater Applications" which is configured by default includes  svchost.exe/wuaudt.exe and others(look in Defence+/Advanced/Computer security policy for the full list).
As for the untick Remember my answer box i`m pretty sure that it works on a last action method, i.e. if at the last alert the box wasn`t ticked it shouldn`t be on the next, if it was, it will be(think that makes sense).
I`m not 100% on this though!

Matt

[Clack]

Matty_R, you are teriffic!

This is what I call a great support response. It's well written, extremely detailed, and easy enough to understand, where even a first time user like myself can follow the instructions.

I haven't set my Alert Settings to High yet, but I did change the Firewall Behavior Settings to Custom, and removed entries for existing programs that I wanted to be asked about in the "Network Security Policy".

Now I'm getting asked all the right questions when the programs I execute attempt to connect. It's exactly what I wanted Comodo to do, and you've delivered!

This is my first time working with a "real" firewall. There's a lot of terminology to learn, and details to discover. It's great that Comodo has this kind of support. It's a good firewall. It's really light on system resources, and has been reliably guarding my PC that I've only just upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit. That says a lot right there.

Thanks again. I'm really happy. Can you tell? XD

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