In recent versions, Comodo uses a “download manager” of some kind. When you download Comodo Firewall from Comodo’s site, even though the file is nearly 35 MB, it actually does nothing beyond giving you a license agreement to accept, then telling you to download the real installer (about 32 MB) and the optional GeekBuddy. In fact, the file name of the download manager is deceptive; it implies that the download manager is itself the installer, when in fact it isn’t. The real firewall installer is smaller than the download manager (which does nothing that the user can’t do himself/herself)!
The download manager is a waste of time to download and completely unnecessary. Why not just allow users to download the actual installer? What is the point of downloading 35 MB of useless data that just displays a license agreement that could be easily bundled with the real installer?
This download page provides the combined installer by default but you can choose to download the individual installer by choosing it in the drop down menu.
Right, except it’s not really an “individual installer”. It’s a download manager that serves very little purpose. If you choose the “individual installer” for the 32 bit version, for example, you will get a download manager that downloads another file that’s about 32 MB. The 32 MB file is the real installer.
My point is that you should let people download the real installer directly, instead of forcing them to use the download manager.
I am confused here. ??? The provided url is for the complete installer and gets downloaded by your browser its self. Can you tell me where you see a download manager? When you start the installer it will unpack the installer to a folder in ProgramData. Is that what you mean?
The file that can be downloaded as the 35 MB 32 bit installer asks you to specify a directory to “Download to”, not “Extract to”. The directory is in …\Application Data\Comodo Downloader (It is also at this screen that you get to choose whether to install GeekBuddy).
I tested the installer on a computer that didn’t have Internet access, and it turns out the installer file is still extracted, as you say. Even so, I don’t see the point. For one, the file that I downloaded was larger than the file that was extracted. And why call it “download to”, as if a network connection is required to download, unless the “unextracted” installer wants to send some information back to Comodo to enable the correct file to be extracted? If extraction is what is happening, just call it that.