Best AV/Firewall that I can really control?

[kenny782]

Anyway I just reloading windows 7 so I'm seeing what else is out there.

I'm trying to find something very secure but that I can really control it.
I know there's lots of articles including this forum.
But I'm looking for something I can really get my hands into not a half a dozen settings.

And on that actually defends itself since the first thing this crap does now is kill the antivirus lol

I have been Zone alarm extreme which I've been really happy with.
Except for my system performance that is.

I especially like the "program control" feature and the advanced firewall controls.
Though they could improve on the AV settings some.
And why is their no allow option when restoring from quarantine?

I've tried... - mind you many of these were tried last year.
Mcafee - DELETED some of my files (which it falsely identified). Support told me that was normal behavior and I couldn't change it.

Vipre - too many pop-ups. And many once I approved an apps action, the app would then crash. I'd end up disabling vipre in order to run the program.

Norton - Junk

BitDefender - I think I might have tried this once but I don't recall.

can't remember the others...

Just looking for some opinions because the last time I tested it destroyed my OS the installing and uninstalling them all.


Thanks,

Kenny

 

[Jonathan_King]

What features in particular are you wanting to control?

Comodo is the highest rated free firewall out there.

 

[CarlTR6]

Comodo is the closest I have found to the program control in ZA. It is not as straight forward as is ZA and you will have to look for it. I am satisfied with Comodo.

If you try Comodo and can't find the settings, post back.

 

[kenny782]

Well these two are mainly the two I used the most
Definitely the firewall.

This program control thing - I was able to easily see a list of what apps could access the internet and stop them permanently in a single click.
It also had several levels in which it would monitor an app.
This is an old version but essentially the same thing

Features
A good browser plugin
It's not perfect but maybe Browser virtualization

 

[kenny782]

Comodo is the closest I have found to the program control in ZA. It is not as straight forward as is ZA and you will have to look for it. I am satisfied with Comodo.

If you try Comodo and can't find the settings, post back.

Cool thanks. How was the performance hit with Comodo vs ZA?

 

[HMonk]

Comodo for sure, but . . .

Comodo's free security suite, which you will find at http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html is consistently rated the best, even above the much touted Kaspersky's retail version. But, it has a steep learning curve. Unlike ZA, e.g., which has a very few options to consider, and Avast, which just chugs along, Comodo allows you to select from various modes governing how it "learns" your preferences according to your responses to its queries (which are, eventually, applied universally).

So, in response to your desire to "really control" an AV app, Comodo is it: the possibilities are legion. Just be patient with it.

Monk

 

[polarbear]

I used ZA for years... then found Windows7 Firewall Control and never looked back... GL

 

[CarlTR6]

I never ran ZA with Win 7; I knew there were conflicts. I don't notice any slowdown with Comodo.

 

[CarlTR6]

I used ZA for years... then found Windows7 Firewall Control and never looked back... GL

I have nothing against Windows Firewall. It is just too much of a hassle to control outgoing programs with it.

 

[HMonk]

Forgot . . .

@Kenny782: One legendary issue was associated with Comodo is the file, cmdagent.exe (Google if curious), which had been known to consume 100% of your CPU. I had an issue with this in late 2008 and it is argued that it was a SW bug v. one's quirky OS.

I've had no issues since and mention this in the event that you may have heard about it and thus your performance question.

Monk

 

[CarlTR6]

Kenny, here are some screen shots of the way that I access the programs. There may be a better way that a more experienced Comodo user can share.

In the last screen, you can right click on a program and chose Allow, Block, or Ask.

 

[Phone Man]

I used ZA for years... then found Windows7 Firewall Control and never looked back... GL

I have nothing against Windows Firewall. It is just too much of a hassle to control outgoing programs with it.

"Windows 7 Firewall Control" is not "Windows Firewall" and is very easy to control incoming and outgoing. Don't let the name fool you, it is independent of "Windows Firewall"

Jim

 

[CarlTR6]

I used ZA for years... then found Windows7 Firewall Control and never looked back... GL

I have nothing against Windows Firewall. It is just too much of a hassle to control outgoing programs with it.

"Windows 7 Firewall Control" is not "Windows Firewall" and is very easy to control incoming and outgoing. Don't let the name fool you, it is independent of "Windows Firewall"

Jim

You are correct. I was brain dead.

 

[polarbear]

I used ZA for years... then found Windows7 Firewall Control and never looked back... GL

I have nothing against Windows Firewall. It is just too much of a hassle to control outgoing programs with it.

"Windows 7 Firewall Control" is not "Windows Firewall" and is very easy to control incoming and outgoing. Don't let the name fool you, it is independent of "Windows Firewall
Jim

Correct you are Jim and it does the job very well I must add...

 

[kenny782]

I tried the comodo, I probably would have adjusted but interface was a bit much for me.

But I found another freebie, "Time Machine" so thank you! lol
A working equivalent of that damn go back, blue screened my machine when I tried it a few years ago.

Well I found out the straight firewall included the program control feature.
So I'm just running that which has no performance hit on my system.

So I'm just trying to find a straight AV app that will play nice.
I've tried BitDefender and Kaspersky but incompatible.
I'm downloading a Demo of NOD32 now and copy of comodo AV now

-Kenny

_________________
FYI-
Zone Alarm Extreme - Slow
Zone Alarm Inet Sec - Slow
Zone Alarm Firewall - No performance hit

 

[kenny782]

oh damn Carl I missed those screenshots before.
hmm maybe I'll give it one more try.

If an app is doing something suspicious Zone alarm will will actually freeze the app in it's tracks and pop up in the corner asking me to approve it.
And somehow the apps never crash from that kind of thing lol

Does comodo have anything like that?

 

[kenny782]

Nevermind read your post and looked a little more closely I think I answered my own question.
I'll see if the AV works with zone alarm and then rip it all out to try comodo inet security again.

My machine is running barebones until i settle on something lol
Just the OS and office, thank god for that time machine because all this testing has f*ed it up twice

 

[CarlTR6]

Kenny, I use Avast ant-virus and Comodo firewall.

 

[kenny782]

Well I loaded Comodo again I'm going to avoid run it for a few weeks at least but I'll probably stick with it.

It's the only other thing out there with the kind of control I want.

Thanks for the advise guys.


Hey Carl one more thing I added iexplore to the Sandbox.
Is their a hotkey or some quick way to toggle it on and off?
Kind of a pain in the a** to turn it off or remove IE and add it again when I'm done.

 

[CarlTR6]

I have never used the sandbox; so I don't know.