Comodo Internet Security Premium - Pro's and Con's

[jackuars]

With respect to the Best Free Antivirus 2015 competition, I'm starting a thread series where users of the various products will be joining together to state the Pro's and Con's of each antivirus/internet security software and why they think it is a contender or not for the Best Free Antivirus.

The first post will be updated by me with what user's think is good and bad about the product, so an informed decision can be made for newcomers.

Related Threads:
Avast Free Antivirus - The Pro's and Con's
Qihoo 360 Total Security - The Pro's and Con's
Avira Free Antivirus - The Pro's and Con's
Panda Free Antivirus - The Pro's and Con's

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THE PRO'S
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• Extensive features and customization capabilities including setting tolerance to prompts
• Minimal usage of system resources
• Best protection if configured correctly
• Multi-layered protection [HIPS, Sandbox, AV, Firewall]
• 0-day protection
  
• Best Firewall
• Sandbox and HIPS modules
• Low on system resources
• Attractive GUI skins, neat user interface

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THE CON'S
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• Bugs and slow bug-fixes
• Not friendly for beginners
• Weak signatures and AV module
• Legitimate files get sandboxed automatically
• Lack of nuanced information on how various modules work
• Too many tweaks needed for better protection [Default: HIPS off, sandbox files read keystrokes]
• Bad influence on FPS games
• Slow updates

 

[SHvFl]

Cons
Has bugs so if you are unlucky and affected you will be sad. Bug fixing is slow and doesn't happen often and for sure not fast.
Needs a lot of effort to improve protection.

Pros
You can change configuration a lot to suit your needs.
Basic protection is decent.

 

[RaDi0AcTiVe MaN]

Cons
It has bad influence on Fps-Shooters
Not novice friendly ( You need advanced computer knowledge to be effective)
weak signatures

Pros
0-day protection
Firewall / Sandbox / Hips

 

[Crystal_Lake_Camper]

Pro's : low on system recources , outstanding firewall , atractive gui skins , very customizable , a lot of features for free. Cons ; weak av module , not quite suitable for beginners , needs to be tweaks a lot to become realy powerfull , riddled With bugs.

 

[DracusNarcrym]

PROS

• CIS is highly configurable, and as such it can be configured accordingly to provide optimal security and usability, depending on the users' needs

CONS

• CIS requires from its users at least a medium level of knowledge in computers or IT in general in order for it to provide them with the best possible protection

 

[Kate_L]

Pro's : Very low memory usage, best firewall, best protection you can get today (no other AV or IS can provide this level of security).

Con's: Weak Signature Detection, not for beginners, you can get infected with default settings, slow development.

 

[hjlbx]

PROS:

• It will protect your system against the vast majority of infections.
• Even with issues, in 98 % of cases, user can implement work-arounds.
• Low system resource impact.
• Based upon default-deny protection model: virtualization + anti-executable.
• In one program, have a combo of features that mimics Sandboxie + AppGuard + NVT ERP + Windows Firewall Control + Secure Folders.
• It has improved quite a bit over the past few years.

CONS:

• It is not easy to figure out how it works without infos.
  
• Intended behaviors are thought to be bugs because there is no source of infos (except here at MT).

 

[Kiwimike]

PROS:

• Enterprise targetted product, meaning you get enterprise-grade default/deny protection off the bat.
• Good hueristics and cloud labs.
• Defense plus acts as an anti-exploitation tool, able to block access to keystrokes for example, and can resist being shutdown by a service.
  
• Firewall is fully functional and quite good.
  
• Fully-virtualized sandbox. Virtual kiosk is good, sandbox allows applications to install but isolates them from the system.

CONS:

• Firewall is badly configured by default. Allowing all actions.
• Antivirus gets low grades due to bad detection rates.
  
• HIPS can over-alert someone and cause annoyance.
  
• Product must be configured before hand.
  
• Automatically installs support service and browser, configuration page is too hidden.
  
• Defense Plus and Sandbox can cause some drivers to conflict causing a system crash or inoperational hardware.

Cons
It has bad influence on Fps-Shooters
Not novice friendly ( You need advanced computer knowledge to be effective)
weak signatures

Pros
0-day protection
Firewall / Sandbox / Hips

I wouldn't call it advanced computer knowledge but basic knowledge of threats, networking and how exploitation of software and hardware works in different situations.

This means knowing different basic attacks, like the main types of dos attacks, sniffing attacks such as ARP poisoning, the protocols, the layers in TCP/IP, ports for different services (so if your hosting an ftp server you can allow port 21, because you know thats the default port) etc.

 

[hjlbx]

Bottom line is that Comodo Internet Security provides quite high base-line protection. User is just burdened with learning how it works plus its quirks\unexpected - but intended - behaviors.

Proactive Security with some minor settings changes will provide robust protection except for the most high-risk infection types (e.g. fileless malware) and computing behaviors = wonton disregard for safe computing habits.

Plus, it costs $0...

 

[Deleted member 178]

all is said above, i will just add one Con

- you need to spend hours of Trial & Error to handle the best of it; i played with it since years, and i still don't handle everything yet; i can make it very very secured but it took years.

 

[hjlbx]

all is said above, i will just add one Con

- you need to spend hours of Trial & Error to handle the best of it; i played with it since years, and i still don't handle everything yet; i can make it very very secured but it took years.

@Umbra

It took me over a year, but I have a cheat = CCE. (annoying user)

 

[Deleted member 178]

I started from comodo FW v4 ^^

 

[hjlbx]

I started from comodo FW v4 ^^

You are one of the "Ancients"...

 

[Andytay70]

Doeas anyone know how to set it up correctly?

 

[Crystal_Lake_Camper]

Sure just type in the word comodo in the search function on mt and there you will find a lot of threads about this subject. There are also config threads on the comodo forums , but they aren't so airtight as the ones mentioned here

 

[hjlbx]

Doeas anyone know how to set it up correctly?

@Andytay70

You 1st-time user\Comodo "beginner" ?

 

[musings4]

PROS​

• Multi-layer approach to protect OS [HIPS, Sandbox, AV, Firewall]
  
• Highly configurable to suit your tolerance to prompts vs. ease of use - if configured appropriately its zero-day protection is the best on the market
• Elegant GUI and tasks/options are easily found
  
• System resources usage is very minimal [12-20 MB]
• And it's free

CONS​

• A steep learning curve is expected to be ushered given the sheer amount modules employed
• At its default settings, Comodo's multi-layered protection is insufficient [HIPS - off, unrecognized files are contained in the Sandbox but can still read keystrokes, etc. due to lax restrictions]
• AV signatures are average [I don't think its average but the many others differ] but other components will catch an offending file via user input when prompted - that's where being knowledgeable of specific processes being triggered from the OS or randomly w/o your input comes into play.
• A gripe for some users is that several legitimate files may get sandboxed automatically w/o a verbose prompt in which you have to tell Comodo not to run the file virtually again, reset the Sandbox and run the program a second time.
• Lack of nuanced information about how Comodo's modules works and their intended behaviors

 

[hjlbx]

PROS​

• Multi-layer approach to protect OS [HIPS, Sandbox, AV, Firewall]
  
• Highly configurable to suit your tolerance to prompts vs. ease of use - if configured appropriately its zero-day protection is the best on the market
• Elegant GUI and tasks/options are easily found
  
• System resources usage is very minimal [12-20 MB]
• And it's free

CONS​

• A steep learning curve is expected to be ushered given the sheer amount modules employed
• At its default settings, Comodo's multi-layered protection is insufficient [HIPS - off, unrecognized files are contained in the Sandbox but can still read keystrokes, etc. due to lax restrictions]
• AV signatures are average [I don't think its average but the many others differ] but other components will catch an offending file via user input when prompted - that's where being knowledgeable of specific processes being triggered from the OS or randomly w/o your input comes into play.
• A gripe for some users is that several legitimate files may get sandboxed automatically w/o a verbose prompt in which to have to tell Comodo not to run the file virtually again, reset the Sandbox and run the program a second time.
• Lack of nuanced information about how Comodo's modules works and their intended behaviors

That is pretty darn accurate... @musings4 .

 

[jamescv7]

Guess Comodo strong points are goes to the big four HIPS, Firewall, AV, Sandbox where everything are active and does not easily bypass unless the user manage to choose an actions.

Cons: Actually relying too much for advance/experience users + mishandle the list to safely registered those programs and other crucial files to work well on majority of systems.

Besides the issues and bugs that may not yet fully solve where although again may be isolated but can affect the programs behaviour.

Their AV tends to be passive and seems rely on overall user complicated interactions.

 

[tonibalas]

PROS: Comodo is great for advanced users and from my part never faced a bug.

CONS:Not for beginners look for something else