Comodo Internet Security

Comodo Internet Security is probably the best free Internet Security Suite out there. It comes with tons of features that make Comodo Internet Security very effective. They have also challenged one of the market-leaders in antivirus; Norton and have yet to respond.

What amazes me about CIS is the effectiveness of the software is 100% (if you use it correctly) compared to other suites out there that cost over 80 euro (cough�.Norton�.cough�), while CIS is 100% free! What about support you ask? CIS comes with full customer support on the forums and for the paid version of CIS, they even fix your computer problems for you by remote if you want to. From infections to printer installations.

The video above shows that one fake AV software did get through because it had a digital signature. However, since then Comodo has removed the �Safeapp� company from it�s trusted list, so it will not get through again. The fake AV was not stopped by the AV or Defense+, because technically it is not classified as a virus, trojan or worm but rather a piece of software that looks like a real Antivirus and urges you to �buy� their product.

In short, it checks if the file you wish to run is safe or not (by antivirus signature, cloud scanning, digital signatures and other tecniques). If the file is not safe, it will either block it (if it is a known piece of malware) or it will run it in the sandbox (if it is unknown or unsigned). The sandbox prevents the program that you run to make any modifications to your system. You can however run the program outside the sandbox if you trust it. Comodo Internet Security also monitors your memory for attacks and exploits.

I recommend CIS for advanced users that know what to answer when you receive a notification from CIS. For example, you have to understand what a sandbox is and what it does, or you won�t be able properly install programs that are not digitally signed or trusted. You also have to know what to answer if CIS asks you what you want to do (block, trust, sandbox) when you run an unknown file. You can however disable all popups and set a password to CIS so that it will block all unknown and unsafe applications by default without popups. This can be handy if you want to install it for someone who is a computer novice and frequently has trouble with malware. However, if that someone does not have frequent problems with malware but wishes to have a simple and yet effective antivirus without popups, I would highly recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.

Antivirus
The antivirus consists of a traditional signature-based antivirus combined with a cloud scanning feature, rootkit-scanning and uploading of unknown files to the Comodo server for analysis. The scanner is very fast and can be set to exclude packed archives and specific folders.

Firewall
The firewall has several defense levels including auto-learn mode. Auto-learn is handy if you want the firewall to automatically allow and create rules for all programs that want to have internet access. Once you are done teaching the firewall you can switch back to normal mode by right-clicking on the Comodo icon and accessing the menu.

Defense+
This module gives you extra protection. Here you can see active processes that you can lookup online, terminate (and block), upload to Comodo and add to trusted files. You can view all the trusted files and make modifications, run a program in the sandbox, view a list of unrecognized files and send them to trusted or untrusted files. And tons of other features that you can customize.