Defense+ blocking access to Windows system DLLs by Windows systems apps!

So I installed Comodo 3, and, after things settled down a bit (after various learning phases), I discovered that Defense+ was blocking access by Windows to various Windows DLLs.

For example, if I right-click on “My Computer” or on the desktop, and select “Properties”, I get a popup with the message:

RUNDLL: Error Loading C:\Windows\system32\shell32.dll
Access is denied.

The Defense+ activity log says:

Application: rundll32.exe
Action: Create Process, Execute Image
Target: C:\Windows\system32\ntdll.dll (and sometimes shimeng.dll)

This is in “Clean PC” mode. I have to entirely disable Defense+ for this to work.

Do you know why Defense+ would be identifying these sorts of operations as restricted? And how can we fix this?

  • Tim

This has never happened to me in any of the Comodo 3.0 releases. There are several posts about this and most related to user error. You probably clicked block on a D+ alert instead of Alllow. You can look in your D+ settings and see whats blocked or else just to a complete uninstall and reinstall. Be sure your are using the most current release.

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/download_firewall.html

Hi there, and thanks for your suggestions…

Yes, I believe I may have clicked on the wrong thing. I checked, and found that I had selected “Isolated Application” instead of “Trusted Application”. My mistake, I thought that “Isolated” meant that it was separate, not that it should be isolated from the system. D’oh! :slight_smile:

  • Tim

(CLY)

So has this changed since the first realease of v3?

I ask because I had a similar problem - clicked on something that seemed logical at the time!
Trouble was, I couldn’t open CFP because CFP wouldn’t allow me to!

How does one get round that? Even in Safe Mode I couldn’t change whatever was blocked (but did manage to run the uninstaller :frowning:

There is nothing wrong with Comodo. Just read all pop ups and don’t just go click happy.

I do tend to become click-happy when there are lots of warnings popping up.

With v2 it was in part because the alerts didn’t really tell me much; with v3 it was because some of the choices are ambiguous - I might have clicked on ‘installer’ whilst installing something.

Basically though, there should be no possibility whatsoever of being locked out of almost all apps. etc. just by making a wrong decision.

Being locked out can happen with any firewall. I can duplicate it with Zone Alarm.