I’ve been a long time user of Comodo firewall 2.4 in the past and initially didn’t like the v3 release. I used to set all my rules manually and learnt quite a bit about networking (thanks to the easy interface v2.4 had) and windows services and security by doing so.
I decided to give it another go with the recent 3.12 version and I must say you’ve created a fabulous piece of free software. I see people complaining, but as far as I can tell you can’t ask for more! A free piece of software when all you ask for back is a few anonymous stats and some feedback on programs used to help the business and raise awareness of your brand. You also provide this active forum and answer peoples queries - all for free!
I must say, after trying all the other free alternatives, some cut back on features compaired to paid versions and less community support, this is a mighty impressive security addition. I use Avast! for antivirus at the moment, because I really like its features, but your Firewall and Defense+ works fine with it. Nice to see.
What impressed me the most is how well everything is laid out, very intuitive. At first it seemed strange just having simple links under each tab instead of seeing IP addresses, ports and options galore but those settings are now neatly compartmentalized and seamlessly tied into the software.
Also what I found great was how few popups you have to deal with due to certified programs, install modes and pre-defined settings if you take time to learn how it works and answer popups correctly first time.
I like how it concentrates on controlling programs and how they interact, rather than messing around with IP’s and ports for each individual program (although you can if you want or need too). It took me about 10 minutes to get up to speed and familiarize myself with everything (but I do have quite a lot of prior knowledge).
Best of all I decided to try it on an old machine I have lying around to check out its resource usage. It uses far less memory than v2.4 according to task manager, even though it has defense+! And it ran very quickly, with minimum slowdown on a Athlon XP 1500+ 1.33Ghz.
It sounds like I work for Comodo, but I just wanted to stress that, as you know, only people with problems usually post. I have no problems (so far), so I thought I’d give feedback instead.
Best of luck with version 4! Don’t change it too much - I really like this version!
Your system cleaner looks like it could be another really useful app too!
