Installation of Comodo Firewall causes the installshield installer for Jane’s Combat Simulations F/A-18 to fail with error: “F/A-18 is not compatible with NT version 4.0”
I’ve seen additional compatibility issues reported with Comodo and other old software.
I forgot to mention that I am using the following:
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Uninstalling Comodo firewall remedies the problem. Merely shutting down the defense engine and appropriate services has no effect.
Welcome to the fourms!
Assuming that you’re using CIS 4, then I would recommend ensuring that the F/A-18 installation (or the game itself) stays well clear of CIS’ sandbox. The sandbox is emulating an NT 4 x64 environment, in your case, and I suspect that wouldn’t go very well for a game designed for Windows 95/98.
Thank you very much Kail,
I actually suspected the sandbox might be the cause, but I assure you that it is disabled. I disabled it within comodo (along with Defense), and also killed the services through window’s service console (services.msc). Something else is going on ???
My big issue isn’t the simulator, actually; I simply uninstall Comodo, install the program, and reinstall Comodo to resolve that. I’m just wondering what Comodo could be doing to trip this in such unrelated software, as I am worried it may produce unexpected behaviors in softwares far more imporant than games 
I’m on x64 so I know kernel patching isn’t taking place, but if the service is shut off and the problem remains, it seems some semi-permanent change is being made to the the OS by Comodo – I say semi-permanent, because uninstalling Comodo allows for normal program operation.
In short, I’m just asking what Comodo could possibly be doing to cause this in order to better anticipate its possible impact on other programs.
Anyhoo, thanks for the welcome. I’ve been using your software for years and have recommended it constatnly for both business and personal use. CIS is first rate and I don’t want to complain without complimenting the devs. Thx! :-TU
I’m personally not running CIS 4 myself, but I do vaguely remember reading something about disabling Defense+ and the Sandbox not being disabled. I’ll need to dig around for more information or see if someone else knows.
What I do know, is that by design you cannot stop or impact CIS by terminating its processes or services (this merely stops CIS talking to the user). In fact, this might actually backfire if CIS thinks it’s under attack. CIS’ bits-with-teeth are its drivers and they cannot be stopped or removed without a reboot. You really must use CIS to disable CIS (or know what drivers & processes to disable at startup). So, I guess that this probably addresses your concerns about CIS modifying the OS in some way?
Ok, apparently if Defense+ is not disabled permanently (this action requires a reboot), then the Sandbox will remain active and working. Since Defense+ itself shouldn’t cause this problem, I recommend trying F/A-18 again with the just the Sandbox disabled.
Another Mod (thanks Dennis) dug up another possibly related bug topic for me. The last post is probably most relevant to you.
Thanks Kail. I tried it and it allowed some of my apps to launch. Hey, its not perfect but a good interim solution while you guys work on the next build. (Say, you don’t have an ETA on that by chance 
)
Thank you for the driver explanation as well. For anyone else listening, I think it might be possible to use the windows Driver Verifer to temporarily shut down the driver when you need to install/run something, and then re-enable later w/o going through the reinstall dance. This is sensible if you want to still make use of the firewall but you need to occasionally disable Defense+ if it’s cramping your style. I have yet to see how CIS reacts to this though, so be sure you know how to get into safe mode and turn verifier off should it cause a BSOD.
Regards and appreciate the insight
I’ve reported a problem with compatibility mode myself just hours ago. The response was that comodo is aware of defense+ conflicting with the compat assistant and is working to fix it.