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#1

Firstly thank you to Comodo for the generosity in making several software programs for free. I hope your business benefits from this.

Now to some feedback about your firewall. I used ZoneAlarm when it first started, several years ago. It was yellow, had a small footprint, was free, and was easily the best firewall around. It may still be yellow but that is about all that remains of this once great firewall.

So I switched to Sygate Free. The personal version. Now 2 years old or so, made in 2004, Sygate have been bought out by some company whose products I avoid like the black plague of Europe. Anyone who knows anything about this matter will know what I mean. This isn’t the time or place to elaborate though.

So I am at Softpedia and I do my occasional look to see what new free firewalls are about. This brings me to Comodo.

There are a number of new free firewalls but some have alarm bells “do not use” associated with them for one reason or another. Not so Comodo, that I found, so I downloaded it and installed it.

You are forced to register the software, once and once only it would seem. Why, I don’t know. If I share this software I will just share the registration too. So it makes little sense and receiving two emails from Comodo to my email account for spammers doesn’t affect me per se.

So how is this firewall?

Well it looks nice. Even great. Well laid out, logical and very artful. Some obvious talent behind the design and graphics. I was wary however and kept looking for the advertising or some other thing but have found no nasty surprises so far.

The benchmark for my comparison is Sygate Free.

I didn’t hold back with the testing. No mercy for Comodo. Is the firewall anything more than a show pony I wondered?

Leak Test. Okay it passed. I tried a few more times, Comodo logged the attempts clearly and in a well presented manner.

Ok round one to Comodo. I was just warming up.

Time for the good old stealth test. No, not from one site, but from a number.

Results “Your computer is invisible to the others on the Internet!”

"0 Ports Open
1 Ports Closed
25 Ports Stealth

26 Ports Tested"

1 Port visible. Let me see what that is.

“0

Closed Your computer has responded that this port exists but is currently closed to connections.”

Mmmmm doesn’t look like a hacker port. I will consider this later. I am not particularly worried. Honest Indian lol.

As you may have guessed I am testing Comodo Firewall as I type this feedback.

Closed port (not stealthed) 0, 1050, 1052

Open port 7000

Not an exhaustive test, but well within my comfort range of feeling safe online.

I would like to see a log of attempted scans and attacks.

I would also like to be able to close port 7000 or any other not used but open.

For now I am leaving Comodo Firewall on my computer and seeing how it goes.

Sygate Personal free is still the best free firewall around, but with each month it loses a little against new products.

I find some other firewalls too complicated to use and too many features.

Comodo are on the right track and if you are new and reading this then give it a try.

This feedback is specific to version 2.3.6.81

(:CLP)

#2

Thank you for the feedback.

Can you tell us about your network configuration? How do you connect to the Internet? You should not have received such results in basic stealth tests.

Thx,
Egemen

#3

Connection is via a router. ADSL. The computer is part of a LAN.

Cheers.

#4

So the stealth tests are because of the router. This means your router is being tested instead of the CFW.

If you have a LAN, there is a better way to test your stealth status: nmap hacker tool(http://www.insecure.org). The best hacker tool ever. Even used in Matrix 2 by Trinity in shutting down the eletirc power plants scene :slight_smile:

Tell nmap to attack your PC and see the results.

Egemen

#5

Thanks for that. Nmap is pretty lame in my view. Command line DOS in 2006? Really! (:TNG)

Anyway I remembered my DOS training and installed and got the program running. It found like 5 ports open, prattled on about what my router is and basically was a huge yawn.

I must have missed something because this program, Nmap, seems very lame. As for being on Matrix, they had a GUI… they should try the real world on XP and DOS command lines, what I experienced. Then again, everyone would see how lame it is.

Comodo Firewall sought permission to allow Nmap to run.

I do appreciate the heads up though. I have a number of security programs on my computer and feel safe.

Cheers.