I have used Comodo Firewall for short periods a few times, and I always found myself disenchanted with the user dialog and with Comodo's seemingly unusual behavior with files. It seems that whenever I used CF, files would begin to disappear, from the Desktop, from Downloads, etc. I could reboot and notice an empty spot on the Desktop and wonder what had been deleted. For me, the problem was made more difficult by the fact that I have trouble navigating and making use of the rules and so on CF.
I am very connection conscious, and this is a primary factor for me in selected my chosen variety of security. I like to have clarity in the dialog for controlling internet connections. This leads me to use Private Firewall, because the dialog here matches moreso my mental sequences for managing the connections. That said, I wish that I could find a way to use CF and feel that I can trust the program 100%.
I have looked at the CF help pdf, and I have tried to give the program every chance. Also, cruelsister has a very interesting angle on how to set up CF that I would like to try. However, I wonder if there are some out there who would like to understand the inner workings of CF. Seems to me there was more of a passion for this going back to the mid 2000s, when Comodo was becoming a known thing. Now, while I am sure it works fine for most, there seems to be little interest in presenting schemes for the use of the program in more than just one way.
Pity the Comodo forum has become so dull. I have always wished that responses there could be more considered, and there is so much potential.
cruelsister, I know you have made your settings for CF public, and you have clearly explained them. I wonder if you have considered, however, taking a deeper look into the flow of the program for the benefit of those who may prefer to attempt to use HIPS or may be desiring to make extensive use of the firewall's connection blocking capabilities. I would love to see a breakdown of, for example, ways to set up CF with broader explanations of the overall user interaction with the program with a given set of choices. What happens if you use cruelsister's set up with HIPS? How can I better monitor system connections using CF? This kind of thing.
Auto-sandboxing seems amazing. However, I am lost as to the specifics of what happens with this. 360 TS has a sandbox, which can be useful for the browser, and I have made use of it in the past. That said, it doesn't block (as I understand things) indiscreet internet connections or crummy info grabbing.
I have really studied carefully Private Firewall, because I feel like I can. I would love to do the same with CF, but I find myself lost mentally to grasp in the deepest details what is the guiding philosophy of the development of the program. If anyone ever would like to do a back and forth about the strengths and limitations of CF v PF, I would be very interested to contribute what knowledge I have gained over the last 4-5 years.
To cruelsister, thanks for standing behind the performance of CF and its obviously solid handling of auto-sandboxing. You are doing computer users a service as far as I am concerned.
