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COMODO – FREE AV & Firewall! PDF Print E-mail
In Code - Use the Web!
Friday, 23 January 2009 15:24
http://comodo.com/

No, it’s not a toilet or some big-assed Indonesian lizard.  It was the free firewall that I recommended to use in conjunction with AVG’s free anti-virus software – the same combo I was using up until a few months ago…  Then I discovered when overhauling one of my PCs that COMODO is now an full-function AV-Scanner and Firewall in one, and after using it for a while, I’m happy to recommend it as a great, FREE alternative to the overblown (and overpriced) programs like Norton that can really do no better… My first concern with these things is how often they update – at least once-a-day is optimal, in my opinion.  Less than that seems slack and more than that is an annoyance!  I notice Comodo Internet Security (as the suite is now called) popping up a small balloon from the tray icon once-a-day – usually early in the morning – saying either that it’s currently updating, or has finished updating.  So far it seems to do this like clockwork and keeps itself fresh.  And just to be on the safe side, it also checks for updates itself when you go to run manual scans.

The Firewall part of COMODO is way more than adequate – and a LOT better than the one built into Windows XP (but see the note below!)  It will bark at you any time anything other than YOU tries to create folders, move or edit files or registry entries, access any network, and much more!  You have the option of allowing these actions and having it remember your answer or not – plus tell it that this is a Trusted Application, a Web Browser, part of the Operating System, an Installer/Updater, and more.  When you go to install new programs, it seems to recognize this and offer to go into this special “Installer/Updater” mode.  If you allow this, it will shut up and allow most safe installation routines for about 15 minutes, then offer to switch back to “PC Clean” mode – which it will automatically do unless you extend the “Installer/Updater” for another 15 minutes…  This is a very handy feature!

You have the option of installing either the AV software or the Firewall separately, or you can install them both - and I’ve got to say that I’ll highly recommend both of these applications together as an Internet Security Suite!  (Or at least 2/3s of one … you’ll want a spyware-scanner too!)

If you’ve been using AVG Free – and if you do or don’t have a Firewall – I’d recommend switching to this FREE solution and letting it do both!  And when it comes time to upgrade your expensive Norton or McAfee suites, give this a try and see if it doesn’t do the job for you – and will probably go a little easier on system resources than those big boys to boot!

** IMPORTANT NOTE **  If you have a Cable or DSL modem, you may not need a software-based firewall like COMODO!  Many of these modems have hardware-based firewalls built into them, which are preferred to the software-based ones.  You should only have one firewall running, so if you have a Cable or DSL modem, check with its manufacturer or the company that provided it to see what kind of firewall it may have – and what kind they recommend!

… of course you could still install the AV-scanner part of COMODO only and skip the Firewall part if you want.  And finally I’ll note that I’ve been testing this suite on a Windows XP-SP3 box with an Athlon 64 2.0 GHz processor and 2.75 GB of RAM … 56K dial-up!

Get it here : http://comodo.com/
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Last Updated on Friday, 23 January 2009 15:36
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