The Comodo firewall is acclaimed as one of the best in the world (see e.g. matousec.com), while the antivirus component is not top level yet. This will inevitably drag down the popularity of Comodo. The antivirus component has not been submitted to top tests like Virus Bulletin and AV test. The tests done that I am aware of indicate that there is more to be done to reach excellence. The absence of Comodo in said independent tests, arouses the suspiscion that Comodo's strategy is to avoid submitting the program until it has reached a satisfactory level. This is not very unusual in this business and I think many are aware of that.
People have high demands today on AV programs, so I am sure many will hesitate to use one that is not on the list of tested programs. And there are free alternatives that have done well on these tests, like Avira and AVG free versions, (though they dont give a complete protection).
Moreover, offering a not very good program to the market, even if free, is ethically doubtful, as it gives people a false feeling of safety. This drags down the image of Comodo.
BOTTOM LINE: The popularity of Comodo is no doubt negatively affected by the Antivirus component, because it has not yet achieved the same top level as the firewall.
So separate the two until the Antivirus component equals the firewall in excellence. Of course, for those who don't care about having an antivirus program whose performance has nor been checked by leading testers, you can keep the security suite. Though it may damage your image.
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