Suggestions for the best free alternative to CIS

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1

Given that the free version of CIS seems unlikely to see further development, does anyone have suggestions for the best free alternative to CIS (either a security suite or a combination of security products).

I would see protection being the number one requirement with ease-of-use, regular updates and low overhead also being important.

2

!ot! coming back after so long because I was cleaning up my credentials.

As far as free is concerned, the alternatives largely depends on your use-case. I no longer use my personal PC as much as I used to do before so for general internet browsing, the usual suspects are still your best bet, imo:

  1. Sandboxie > in my case, I sandboxed portable versions of the following browsers: dragon, opera and firefox, typically just so I could automate opening downloaded stuff (non-exe most of the time) in the sandbox. as a general rule, accounts access through these browsers are throwaway or non-important accounts.
  2. Microsoft Defender paired with UAC > for the most part, it covers enough of the basics and has seen it’s fair share of certifications itself.
  3. NTFS security permissions > custom permissions for important partitions and drives. Main coverage is only for non-sophisticated malware, however
  4. Custom bootable amnesic distro > for important personal stuff
  5. Virtual box > for testing programs that would make changes to critical system files. Mostly for theming and exe files
  6. Virustotal > for when I’m downloading rather shady stuff. Mostly new software these days
  7. Scheduled scan via Emsisoft Emergency Kit and Dr. Web. Every month, though I do slack off now and then. I don’t really use my PC all too often nowadays.
  8. Extensions: uBlock Origin with a number of filters from filterlists, Avast Online Security, preferred VPN (varies per location), NoScript
  9. Adult exhaustion > stops me from doing experiments and stuff on my PC. Works really well against PICNIC.
  10. Cloud and local backups > for the nuke-everything-and-sleep-through-it-at-the-slightest-inconvenience tactic or NEASTIATSIT. Disclaimer: acronyms aren’t my forte.
3

Thanks for your input.

All your suggestions apart from MS Defender really amount to safe usage rather than security software. I currently use CIS firewall and HIPS with MS Defender and run frequent on-demand scans with several different apps. I check downloads using VirusTotal and use “Run in Comodo Container” when appropriate. I do regular backups including a system disk image and have a bootable USB stick containing diagnostic and recovery software.

A couple of days after my original post I received an email from forumadmin@comodo.com :-

“Sorry for the inconvenience.
https://forums.comodo.com/other-security-products/suggestions-for-the-best-free-alternative-to-cis-t128161.0.html;msg916991#msg916991
We can understand your expectation towards CIS development, FYI: the team is working on reported list of current bugs and soon the team will update on the list of current bug fixes and new release.
Kindly support us.”

So Comodo is claiming that CIS free is still supported even though there have been no updates since Jan 2021. I will believe this when they release a new version that officially supports Win11 and fixes the majority of reported bugs.

4

https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/firewall-new.php :stuck_out_tongue:

5

I’m, too, looking for an alternative and thought I would have found it. Now I think bitdefender could replace comodo once. But then I found this article (

from VANESSA FLAXMAN, Vanessa is a freelance writer, editor, and tech enthusiast with a particular interest in online safety. Published on: May 19, 2022
)

So, CIS is still up to date concerning protection:

It has proved incredibly successful at removing viruses with a 99.8% detection rate and can successfully locate and remove numerous security threats, including malware, rootkits, and hidden files. All that said, I did like Comodo?s firewall, which provides excellent protection and numerous advanced customization options. The virtual desktop is also a decent feature ? it allows you to create a secure environment in which to safely run suspicious applications. But so many competitors, including Avira and TotalAV, also have similar features to these, plus far better additional features.
6

CiS is definitely still one of the best security suites today but ONLY if it runs on your version of Windows AND you are not adversely affected by any of the outstanding bugs. Windows 11 was released many months ago but is still not officially supported (and apparently won’t run CIS in some cases) and NO outstanding bugs have been fixed since CIS 12.2.2.8012 was released in Jan 2021.

7
The virtual desktop is also a decent feature ? it allows you to create a secure environment in which to safely run suspicious applications. But so many competitors, including Avira and TotalAV, also have similar features to these, plus far better additional features.
I really dont recall avira and some other products offering a virtual desktop let alone a auto-sandbox. some may have a feature like "bank mode" comodo calls it Comodo Secure Shopping. If none of that interest you, maybe your better off with a different product
8

comodo to fail, we have to hunt for failures :-TU
comodo internet security is antilogger with comodo secure shopping;
good day! :stuck_out_tongue: