I installed CIS 6.3 a month ago when I received my new Windows 8 laptop. I noticed today that Windows Firewall and Windows Defender are both still working. Isn’t CIS supposed to take over for those? I don’t really want to use both. If I turn off Windows Firewall, the system complains that there’s no network firewall. How do I get CIS to be the primary endpoint security solution on my machine?
This turned out to be an issue with my upgrade from Windows 8.0 to Windows 8.1. The answer to the question is: “No, Windows Defender and Windows Firewall should not be running”. Going to Control Panel → System and Security → Action Center → Security drop-down, revealed that the Comodo firewall wasn’t even recognized and the Comodo was only recognized as anti-spyware. After the upgrade CIS prompted me to fix the issues, but this must not have been effective.
I used the instructions posted on this forum (Comodo Forum) to uninstall CIS. I also got rid of GeekBuddy, Dragon (after taking a note of my extensions), and PrivDog to ensure my laptop was totally cleaned out. Then downloaded CIS again and installed. This time when I open the Security drop-down in Action Center, I see that there’s no sign of Windows Defender being active and Comodo AntiVirus is turned on for both spyware and virus protection. However, both Windows Firewall and Comodo Firewall were turned on. Once I turned off the Windows Firewall manually, the Comodo firewall kicked in and started alerting me regarding traffic.
So, my problem is solved. I just needed to enter my product license key, run a full scan to activate the warranty, click “Watch Activity” to install KillSwitch, and setup Dragon with my extensions and preferred settings. 