Help me understand "My Pending Files"

I have a few questions about the Pending Files screen. I have Defense+ set to CleanPC Mode which was the default.

After I installed CPF3, one of my app’s (Hamachi) informed me of an available update, which I accepted, and installed. Now I have 3 hamachi items listed as “Modified” in the Pending Files list:

C:\Program Files\Hamachi\hamachi.exe
C:\Program Files\Hamachi\uninstall.exe
C:\Program Files\Hamachi\nicmgr.exe

Hamachi works, even though CPF assumes the 3 files are “not assumed safe”. I trust hamachi - so what should I do to get these 3 files out of the Pending List ? Purge doesn’t work, these files persist on the list.

(1) If I choose “Remove”, does this remove the file from the Pending list i[/i], or does it delete it from my system (not desired)?

(2) OR - should I “Move” the 3 files to My Own Safe Files, or Quarantine ?

(3) I also noticed the option to send the files to Comodo for analysis - which is probably not necessary - but I did it anyway to see what happened. Assuming Comodo received the files and finds them safe, how does that information get back to me so I can edit my Pending Files list?

(4) Finally, the “Purge” option seems like a no-brainer. It cleans out Pending items that are no longer on the system. Why can’t this be executed automatically instead of manually?

That’s it for now.

Thanks.

i can answer only one question for now, all the others… i’d like to know the answers too :-))))

i If I choose “Remove”, does this remove the file from the Pending list (desired), or does it delete it from my system (not desired)? [/i]

removes them from pending list

You can move them to your safe files, but don’t feel pressed to review your pending files very often. The worse that could happen if you neglected it, would be that Defense+ asked you later about allowing or denying when one of those files attempted to execute. But very often they won’t get “executed” before they’re updated again, if ever, so don’t worry about not reviewing the pending files often, be cool. 8)

Also, if Hamachi’s files are signed (no idea), you can add it to your trusted vendors, in Defense+ > common tasks > my trusted vendors.

(1) If I choose "Remove", does this remove the file from the Pending list [i](desired)[/i], or does it delete it from my system [i](not desired)[/i]?

Already correctly answered by Burrillo, they won’t get deleted from disc in any case, only from the list. However that means that they’re still not considered safe and D+ would ask you about them just the same; so the only different thing would be that they’re not there to be reviewed and moved elsewhere.

(3) I also noticed the option to send the files to Comodo for analysis - which is probably not necessary - but I did it anyway to see what happened. Assuming Comodo received the files and finds them safe, how does that information get back to me so I can edit my Pending Files list?

Not sure but I guess that Comodo would add them to their master safelist, and you would get that with the next update.

(4) Finally, the "Purge" option seems like a no-brainer. It cleans out Pending items that are no longer on the system. Why can't this be executed automatically instead of manually?

That might seem like a good idea at first, but it would cause CPU and RAM and disc hog, not really worth it in my opinion. You only need to purge before you review, until then it doesn’t matter.

PS: Mods, I think it would be cool a sticky about “my pending files” in the FAQ, or a broader one about Defense+. :wink: Or does it exist already…?

maybe automatic purge is not at all good idea… In the other thread i said i saw some randomly-generated filenames (exe’s) in “My Pending Files”… and though it was “false positive” (just Firefox’s temp files), it could be very usefull if trying to track down malware.

Burillo & Japo:

Thanks very much for your answers - now I finally have a better understanding of the “Pending Files” concept.

Since I first posted, I have installed several other app’s on my system; and My Pending Files now contains 372 files (gulp!) Based on the feedback from Burillo and Japo, I am operating on the assumption that the contents of My Pending Files are “untrusted” by Comodo’s built-in data base, but permitted run on my system - which I can live with. I will leave them there and see if the Pending Files list is modified when Comodo releases an update. I submitted all 372 files to Comodo for analysis, and I look forward to seeing what happens next …

The explanations for Manual vs. Automatic purge make sense - although I am sure a lot of users will find this confusing until the Help Files are more thorough.

There is a learning curve for this FW + HIPS combination, and some gaps in the Help Files and Documentation - but overall I am very impressed with Ver. 3.

did you expect NO learning curve for such an advanced product? of course not… though it’s farily easy to understand when a user has no meat for brain…

Progress !!! :■■■■

I have been Purging and Submitting files for a week - and wondering why my Pending File continued to grow and grow. By last night, there were more than 500 files in there.

Finally … it looks like things are slowly being resolved. This morning (December 5th), I clicked on the “Lookup…” button, and more than 175 files were changed to “Trusted” and removed from the Pending Files list.

It looks like the folks at Comodo are working their way through the submitted files, and updating their trusted files database. Good news !!

Yes, I guess we’ll have to wait a bit until things are straightened out. I had similar experience with a decreasing number of files filling up “My Pending Files” after looking up.

By the way, a new version of the Firewall is available, but only after you apply for it!!

I have several files in “My pending files” and I’m sure they’re safe.
If I want to move them to “my own safe list”, I get a message telling me that they’re already in the list.
What can I do ?

Remove them from your pending files list.

Hello

I’ve already removed them, but some days later they appear another time.

I have one or two pending files permanently there I choose to move to my trusted apps and the pop-up says they are already there!

Are they files to do with updating something.Everytime i update my avira av i get 3 files in “my pending files” two of them can be purged,the other can be removed with no problem.It seems that they are still put in my pending files even though they relate to a trusted app.

Well I don’t know about you guys, but this seems to me to be a really stupid system.
For goodness sake, even Firefox.exe is placed in the pending list for review.
And how the hell does one check the hundreds of DLL files.
And where is the feedback if something is “submitted”?
And what exactly is “submitted”
Totally ridiculous and impractical!
(:AGY)

Posted by: RobQQQ

Totally ridiculous and impractical!

Not sure I’m willing to go that far to express my displeasure with the My Pending Files - but here’s my observations after having CPF3 on my system for 3 weeks:

(1) I presently have 829 files listed in “My Personal Files”. Since I first started the Purge > Lookup > Submit cycle 3 weeks ago, maybe 150 - 180 files have dropped off my list, having been determined to be “Safe” by Comodo.

(2) This means that the ratio of files added : to files removed on my system is approx 6:1. At this current rate, unless something changes, I will have approximately 15,000 files in My Pending Files 12 months from now. Anyone care to guess how much bandwidth is going to be consumed submitting that list to Comodo’s servers ?

So, I conclude that something isn’t quite right with this product feature. I have been advised by some people here to manually remove the files I “trust” myself - however, if that’s the best solution, why did Comodo bother creating this elaborate Purge > Lookup > Submit system in the first place?

It seems to me that the Comodo people have set very ambitious goals - to create a global software analysis and trust system based on x millions of files submitted by millions of users . The problem is - it doesn’t appear to be ready yet.

Thanks folks.

Since installing CFP last night, I now have over a thousand pending files. Hopefully they’ll all just go away on their own. I really can’t be bothered with sorting it all out. That’s not why I use a firewall. And anyway, if Pending Files starts being a pain in the ■■■, then I’ll just ditch CFP and use something else.

well you don’t atually need sotring these out. let them be.

(2) This means that the ratio of files added : to files removed on my system is approx 6:1. At this current rate, unless something changes, I will have approximately 15,000 files in My Pending Files 12 months from now. Anyone care to guess how much bandwidth is going to be consumed submitting that list to Comodo's servers ?

this could be right if you were the only one CFP user in the world. but CFP is gaining popularity and the chance you and someone else’s got same files increases, therefore increases the chance of when you lookup a file - it is already on the safelist.

Well I don't know about you guys, but this seems to me to be a really stupid system. For goodness sake, even Firefox.exe is placed in the pending list for review.
maybe you don't know much about the security. any executable can have any name. the only difference is it's contents. Malware can be called "firefox.exe", can have the same icon - but still it's a malware. And the only way to determine "safe" app from an "unsafe" one (unsafelisted) is to calculate it's hash. If firefox has updated recently - it's hash isn't yet in the safelist (and won't be there for at least a day or two) - it IS considered unsafe. It's the price of the security, and it ain't stupid.