Split From Comodo Firewall For Dummies

“doodler,”

If I may? As a Newbie/Dummy/Novice/et ceteras, from my experience with this FireWall and it has not all been good, but; this forum is very HELPFUL and response is prompt, to the point and will assist in solving any difficulties.

#1.If you can get to COMODO’s website download the latest version, v3.0.19.318.

#2. If you can enter through the ‘Safe Mode’ using the ‘F8’ and selecting that mode go through the Control Panel and remove Comodo Firewall Pro.

#3. Restart your computer, cold boot is recommended to clear any information that may remain in RAM. After re-boot click on the downloaded v3.0.19.318, I have that on my system and is running just fine. My system is listed in my sig, assuming you are using a like version. I cannot vouch for Vista, if that is what you have then another will need to assist you further.

#4. Accept all of the Default settings, except for the Warranty part, that is the only one I have not selected. Settings should be ‘Defense + Security Level - Train with safe mode’; ‘FireWall Security Level - Train with safe mode’; optional settings ‘Show Tray Animation’ and ‘Display Balloon Animation’ to receive notices about what CFP is doing to monitor your system operations, what you normally do, programs started/stopped.

#5. If you have any more difficulties post them in the FORUM in an appropriate thread and Comodo users or some of their Personnel will reply to get you back to normal, if you are not normally ‘normal’ they well do all HUMANLY possible to make you NORMAL.

I too have had many problems, well some anyway, and they will work with you and even make come corrections to the FW, that is some of my experiences with them, in a ‘knut shell.’

If I can be any further assistance just PM from your Control Panel to my NickName, I would be very happy to assist in any way I can.

Uninstaller has always worked for me in all versions of Comodo. A couple of problems uninstalling doesn’t account for the tens of thousands of satisfied users.

I’ve scanned this forum and it’s interesting to note that when people are reporting trouble that they are experiencing with a Comodo product, so many of your responses consist primarily of “Well, it always works for me” or “I never experience that problem”. Above is another example. I wonder if you realize how minimizing that is to those who are experiencing the problems they are posting. Such answers by you certainly aren’t encouraging and, if anything, make the ‘novice to average’ pc user who is struggling with this product reluctant to continue posting questions.

When there is a problem USUALLY that means something unusual has happened. Sometimes, even frequently, the problem is NOT a unique one and has shown up before. Some problems are “mistakes” or “misunderstandings” by the user that are easy to make.

This is a complex product that works remarkably well considering that. It is NOT as “foolproof” as some very simple programs that install and run without any glitches or correct user intervention required. It is also not perfect.

Users like doodler above may in fact be very unsettled when the program doesn’t work as expected, or perhaps it actually works but not as THEY expected. I surely understand that! But, I don’t know of any way for a forum to sort out whether there is a difficulty without actually valuing responses that confirm something works, as well as confirming it doesn’t work.

I appreciate both sets of responses.

Hey doodler,what can i say,i think the expression is “Pinch of Salt”

I can only call on my experiance here, but i think you will find it difficult to find a bunch of people(vet included) who will try there upmost to solve any problems you may be having(be that concerning related software or just a solution to something you wish to know more about).
Whether anyone is a noob/nob/novice/geek(whatever they call it) does not seem to have any bearing on the efforts made to resolve ones problems/queries.
There are some forums(unamed)where if you ask a question which is pretty basic when it comes to computing you will get several replies which really do make you feel uneasy(i know i`ve had several)
I do understand where your coming from,but i think as Ewen(aka Panic) once stated “In this forum the only stupid question is the one not asked”

To round off i will say take a look at the latest firewall test results HEREand i think that puts some perspective on it.

Good luck Matty

OOhmh and Riggers:

I appreciate your above responses, but I think we come from two different worlds (metaphorically speaking of course…and evidenced by the fact that I don’t have a clue what “pinch of salt” means). In my world, a computer is an occasional tool and an occasional source of entertainment. We’re not afraid of technology, but we also don’t live and breathe it day in and day out because our primary interests may be focused elsewhere. We realize we have a responsibility to maintain our pc’s, but the process should be relatively simple and pain free. That doesn’t mean we’re lazy or not willing to learn more (indeed, we like the challenge of understanding new things) but we don’t want a situation where a software program is so complex that we start feeling like we have to serve it versus it serving us. The motto in our world is “Keep It Simple”. We like that motto, not because we’re Simpletons ourselves, but because trying to live a good and decent life is already complicated and difficult, so let’s not add to it if we don’t have to.

In my world, Comodo Firewall Pro version 3 failed me. Don’t take offense. Your world may be, and probably is, very different from mine and you may consider CFP the best thing since sliced bread. But I think there’s a significant population that lives in my world too and, at this time, I’m doubtful that CFP is a good fit. So, for the italicized reasons expressed below (which is copied from a post I made elsewhere), I uninstalled (successfully I hope and pray) CFP v.3 a couple of days ago.

Of course, the goal is to avoid malware. It sounds like my now-current protection…Windows Firewall…is not very dependable. So I may end up crawling back humbly to CFP on my knees begging for forgiveness sometime in the future. I’m not too proud to do that if I need to and if that time comes then maybe some CFP improvements and simplifications will have been implemented. I’ll check in here every now and then to see if CFP has made their product easier for us dummies. In the meantime, best wishes.

PS - We will have to agree to disagree regarding the tone of one of the other mentioned posters.


[i]To preface my comments, I’m probably an “average” computer user (certainly not a programmer or techie or a power-user). So these remarks are for those who probably fall within the novice to average computer skill level range. My hunch is that is probably most of us.

I have Eset Nod32, Superantispyware, and Spybot S&D on my system, along with CCleaner. Without too much difficulty, I have been able to fairly quickly figure out the basics of these programs and then progress to some of their more advanced features. About a month ago I downloaded Comodo Firewall Pro (CFP) version 3 based on the positive things I read about i. I failed to pay attention to what critics had to say. My learning experience with CFP was quite an eye-opener compared with the other programs I just mentioned.

In my opinion, a good software program should meet four criteria: (1) It should do it’s job reasonably well, (2) It should have understandable instructions and be fairly easy to figure out the basics, (3) it should not have major bugs that will cause system crashes, and (4) it should have an effective uninstaller that will sufficiently remove the program without leaving residual traces behind that interfere with your system. The significance of each of these four criteria will likely vary depending on one’s skill level, but for the novice to average computer user, my guess is they are essential. I believe Comodo Firewall Pro version 3 fails at three of these four criteria.

Regarding (1), my understanding is that CFP does very well in leak tests. Assuming that is an accurate understanding, then kudos to them. Regarding (2), CFP may be effective, but I never could figure out how it works…not even the basics. The terminology and instructions are difficult to understand and unless one has a lot of experience with firewall and HIPS concepts, it will leave you feeling dazed. Regarding (3), the last straw for me in trying to cope with this monster was when I ran a routine CHKDSK (Check Disk), which is something I do every few weeks along with defragging just to keep my hard drive well-maintained. I don’t even know how to describe what happened next other than to say my system had a major crash and would not reboot, not even in Safe mode. My wife and I finally got it restarted using something called Last Known Good Configuration. I now read in Comodo’s forums that a major bug in CFP causes system crashes like this when the user is running CHKDSK. To the more sophisticated computer user, this may not be an alarming event. But to the more casual user, it’s downright scary and it becomes a guessing game of what to do next. Lastly regarding (4), it’s also acknowledged in Comodo’s forums that the CFP uninstaller is impotent. My experience was similar as those mentioned in those threads, i.e., the uninstaller is so poor and leaves so much of the program behind that Windows still thinks CFP is installed and you can’t reactivate Windows Firewall. I spent hours last night ripping a plethora of remaining Comodo entries out of the registry until I got bleary-eyed. Even that wasn’t good enough. I then had to run a command and delete some files in Explorer to apparently reset Windows Firewall. I’ll find out later today or tomorrow if I was successful (hoping and praying).

I believe no novice or average computer user should have to go through this, regardless whether or not the product is “free”. Indeed, the time I spent this past month coping with CFP cost a lot more than what I would have spent buying a more user-friendly firewall product.[/i]

Hey doodler,good luck in the future,just to say “pinch of salt” maybe just an English term,taken from

“Just take it with a pinch of salt” meaning well, i think you sort of know,it has nowt to do with computers :o

Regards Matty

ps Dont rely on windows firewall,get yourself at least some outbound protection