Ganda is quite right, so let me be the first to introduce you to our resident spammer
This seems to be the correct place to post my question. If I am having a problem finding a clear explanation of COMODO products it is quite possible others are too, so getting to the boss is probably the right way to do it.
First, welcome! It seems like what you said may be a trend. I'll bring it up. While I am not the boss, I'd love to try and figure this thing out.
Windows Secrets Newsletter, a much respected publication, is about to recommend CFP above Zone Alarm & NIS, based on a recent independent comparison by Matousec. With the intention of switching to CFP, I started reviewing the COMODO site for information but that process has generated more questions than answers. I am hoping you can straighten me out.
I didn't know that at all, I'll have to check out that publication. Having tried both of them before landing here I do have to agree with their decision though.
At first glance it seems that maximum protection is provided by downloading and using CFP [Not sure if this is a beta], CAV [beta] and BOClean.
Comodo Firewall Pro is, at this moment in time, what Comodo is most known for (in my opinion, of course I have no stats to back it up). CFP is not a beta and is actually beginning to have some great products integrated into it, one of which is threatcast. If you are interested beta CFP with threatcast integrated can be downloaded, however, good old CFP is stable.
CAV 2.xx is beta software right now. As such it does have issues. There are no more bug fixes for this as the developers are concentrating most of their time on CAV 3 beta which is due out before too long (no exact date yet).
BoClean is the on access anti trojan/malware fighter which has saved my behind a few times.
Then I look at CFP Plus which I assume is not a beta version since there is a charge. It says that this product contains the highest level of AV & Anti-Malware. Does that mean CAV & BOClean are not needed with this product? Can/should they be installed anyway for multilayer protection? I can't find a clear answer to this question. Which gives maximum protection – using 3 products or just the one?
CFP Plus is nothing more than your Comodo Firewall Pro download with the add on of insurance in case malware gets through its defenses. I believe it covers assistance with malware removal and a few other things, though I'm not an expert at it. For assistance I'd advise contacting the company and they can explain things a little better. Personally, I would still install BoClean. While I have stayed virus/malware free using just CFP alone I like the added protection of BoClean just in case something should slip through. So for maximum protection, the answer is yes, use all three. But for casual computer users who don't go hunting out malware (like myself) I believe the combination of the two alone is good enough. As always though, the age old answer to your question is: It depends on your surfing/internet usage habits. If you go looking for it, it will find you.
Lastly, I can find no reference to junk email filtering. Do I need to use another product to do this or is it embedded in one of the above and I just missed it?
Comodo does have an antispam product that is a standalone and not embedded into BoClean, CFP, or CAV. Here is the link to it:
http://www.comodoantispam.com/signup.html Unfortunately, I don't use it on a regular basis so I can't be of much help in troubleshooting. There is a board in our forum dedicated to it and if you post there you're likely to get some help.
Also, I would like to get some opinions from forum members as to their comfort level working with beta versions. Assuming CFP is a beta that is 2 of 3 products. Are they fairly clean or fairly buggy?
Personally, I don't have many problems working with Beta versions of Comodo products. I participated in the beta testing of CFP (which again, is not beta) and had only a few minor problems. I used the antivirus for quite a while and it does have some problems. The next version should not have nearly as many. Overall I'm extremely comfortable working with Beta products from Comodo. Many of them are extremely put together already and the fact that developers of the products regularly interact with users on the forum makes it even better in terms of getting assistance as to workarounds and also providing direct feedback to them.
One thing I wish to point out though is that Comodo has many more than just two or three products. Here's a link to all the ones on the download site:
http://www.comodo.com/products/free_products.htmlAmong them are Comodo Verification Engine, backup, and Memory Firewall. Each of these products has a board on our forums where you can learn a little more about them. Briefly though, Verification Engine verifies what you see on the internet. Backup, is, well backup, and Memory Firewall helps protect against Buffer Overflows.
I attempted to take advantage of the free Spyware/Virus/Malware scan. I worked online with a rep and it would not even connect to my system even though ZA was disabled and no ZA services were running. The rep kept telling me to uninstall ZA and use CFP! Not really a good answer to the problem since CFP would not even load.
While I can't speak for the company and it's practices, I will say that if you are having problems with CFP do a quick search through Version 3's board and maybe make a post. Hopefully someone will be able to help you out and get it up and running.
Hope this helped you some.
Dave
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