Went to try Online Armor. It installed without a hitch - good. The setup is quite nice, since, unlike Comodo, it allows you to list the programs that it will allow before beginning to work the first time. Nice because with Comodo, the first reboot can show you a barrage of pop-ups asking whether the program should be allowed or rejected. On slower machines it can totally bog the machine for quite a while. Online Armor doesn’t do this - nice.

The only problem I see so far is that it did not ask about my non-MS screensaver, so that after leaving the machine for about a half hour, I cam back to a machine effectively locked for about 45 seconds. It’s ok now, but annoying because I had ok’ed all the programs it presented that were not ‘recognized’. Apparently the ssaver was not listed under that approval list, yet not recognized either.

The only other thing I see that might be a real pain - I haven’t done any hard testing on speed reduction, the program wants to approve/deny every process on the machine, instead of simply sticking to things that are being done only on the ethernet port. Somewhat annoying, but not so much as for me to remove it now.

I still prefer Sygate Personal Firewall, and don’t see the actual need for updates with an intelligent user at the keyboard. Online Armor will be good for anyone who needs a lot of hand-holding.

As an employee of Comodo, we are working hard to make the best security solutions out there � bar none. The post from Scot had some incorrect assumptions including the erroneous belief that in certain installation modes, Comodo Firewall Pro does not have outbound protection � when in fact it does. It is worth repeating — Comodo Firewall Pro does provide outbound protection in all installation modes. Scot�s assertion that it did not to have outbound protection is a serious accusation. We are anxious to correct this misperception as misinformation can lead to the wrong conclusions.

Melih Abdulhayoglu, Comodo CEO explained his position regarding Scot�s post in the Comodo Forum; http://forums.comodo.com/feedbackcommentsannouncementsnews/feedback_cfp_3_basic_installation_merged-t18598.0.html;msg128025#msg128025

At Comodo a point of pride is the fact that we are open to feedback. Good and bad. In fact, there is no small irony to the fact that this �basic� firewall installation mode which caused all confusion was a last minute addition because users wanted that option. We will continue to respond to our users because that is what ultimately creates the most brilliant solutions. That�s as it should be.

Judy Shapiro

Hello Mark,
Thanks for your insight into OA.

Hi Judy,
Thanks for the information.

I tried Online Armour Free, and three things I didn’t like: I did not like the graphic put on my bootup screen “Protected by Online Armour.” Then, in three different tabs I got a reminder that that feature was not available in the free version. And l’ve yet to have a firewall scan my Start menu; that seemed strange. And lastly, almost every time I opened up a new web page a box popped up asking my approval. And numerous times the approval granted did not take, but kept popping back up. What a pleasant surprise Comodo is! (and I am NOT an employee of Comodo.)

I should not have spoke favorably of Comody so soon. I confess that I’m not an expert on firewalls, not by a long shot.

Yesterday I installed Comodo and all seemed to go so smoothly. Then it started becoming somewhat of a nuisance, asking for approval frequently. Then the next day I am having to RE-authorize on Firefox, etc, again. That’s too much, so uninstalled Comodo, rebooted, the whole bit.

Then I decided to try PC Tool Personal Firewall, but upon install it keeps telling me that it sees Comodo on my system still. I did a registry search on Comodo and am disallowed from deleting Comodo’s registry entries!!!! Even though Comodo is uninstalled, it is still protecting its registry entries!!!! I found a Contact email address at the Comodo site and my email was refused unless I registered at their site. Their loss.

Not a happy experience with Comodo.