Nowadays, the security software you get when you buy a computer isn’t capable enough to fight against military-grade threats that exist today. While it has served its purpose in the past, newer and smarter threats are being created.Conventional security is now being outsmarted by newer next-generation Internet security software that not only protects your network and device as threats arrive but one that can also provide 360 degree, multi-layered protection even while you sleep. When looking for Internet Security protection, the user must look for and require a sturdy antivirus scanner, firewall suite, along with other technologies that are powered by multi-layered security mechanisms.
Here at Firewall Guide, we examine the differences of products available in the market and offer comprehensive information to help users pick the best software solutions for their specific network needs. In this article, we look at Comodo’s Internet Security suite which is available at $17.99 a year. In the sections below we discover whether, at this price point, the Comodo Internet Security can stay true to promise. We’ll be exploring all the features of the product, and whether it is compatible with your current device. As a quick note, if you’re specifically running on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 with a 400 MB hard disk space and 152 MB RAM, then this product is exactly worth exploring.
Why Choose Comodo Internet Security?
Comodo Internet Security is a combined antivirus scanner and firewall suite. It runs different layers of security applications to keep your browser, network, and operating systems protected from hackers. As an Internet Security Suite, it provides a multi-layered protective mechanism and sturdy antivirus to keep hackers from creeping into your data.
As a user, you might be thinking how and what makes this Internet Security Suite better than your current antivirus and firewall combination. A quick answer is that, aside from having advanced antivirus and firewall functionality, Comodo Internet Security has unique tools to offer. You will get an integrated sandbox environment, host intrusion prevention, a valkyrie system, and a buffer overflow system, among many others. Users get all of this, apart from other features and functionalities that will be explored later in the article, at just $17.99 (or $19.99 for 3 licenses on multiple devices) annually. If your current solution still performs to your advantage, but you like Comodo’s other functionalities, Comodo Internet Security can be installed exactly with just the specific components you want during setup.
To give you a quick comparison overview, top cybersecurity leaders like Avast Premier, AVG, McAfee, and Bitdefender do have a similar product offer, but none of them have a zero-trust feature like Comodo. IPS is also a feature that only the top competitors have.
Pros
Option to install firewall components
Minimal usage of system resources
Zero day protection
Attractive GUI skins, neat user interface
Military-grade Threats Protection
Cons
Spam Notifications
Potential unwanted flags
Bugs and slow bug-fixes
Not friendly for beginners
Slow updates
Weak signatures
High CPU usage
Key Features
Auto Sandbox Technology
Rather than placing checks for inbound and outbound attacks, Comodo Internet Security uses a different approach through Sandbox Technology. A sandbox is a software testing environment that creates a virtual box where you can browse the web without worrying about programs that change the system.
Valkyrie System
The valkyrie system does behavioral checks in real-time, which protects you from malware that’s not even discovered yet. Signature-based detection and Trusted Certificate Validation are two of the techniques used in the system. This kind of technology can detect if the program is malicious by nature just by looking at a string.
Defense+ or Host-based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS)
Defense+ is a host-based intrusion prevention system that monitors executable files. The best way to think about HIPS is how a firewall guard Internet access activity works. When you install some applications, HIPS will tell you of potentially unwanted programs. As the user, you can decide whether these are unsafe software or safe ones that you have installed yourself. This will come in handy for advanced users who can ignore the warning and label false alerts for safe apps.
Optional Firewall Installation
Unlike other security suites, Comodo Internet Security allows you to forego using the firewall even though it comes in the package. While you need a firewall to keep your computer safe, installing the firewall is optional.While the Comodo firewall has superior security checks, the developer understands that each computer will require specific security needs. As some computers may still run on older operating systems, having an advanced firewall may slow down the computer’s performance. As a user, seeing the benefits of the Comodo antivirus, you can still use it without having to change anything from your current configuration.
Default Deny Protection
The default-deny protection is a unique line of defense that specifically looks at malware attacks, thus reducing any possibility of infection. Mainly used to execute untrusted programs, it enhances the auto-sandboxing technology of the suite by combining it with HIPS. It detects and destroys viruses, separates suspicious files, provides real-time scanning, and makes consistent updates on virus signatures.
Prevention Based Protection
Preventing harmful files from entering should be done at the initial stage.This feature does just that by blocking any malicious programs the moment it tries to enter.
Customized Protection Alerts
As different network and device requirements call for different demands, this particular feature tailors and adjusts its firewall protection feature based on user requirements.
Spyware Scanning
Spyware is a common attack installed to monitor computer activities. It gains access to your camera, your keyboard, your microphone, and your browsers. Spyware is why hackers can record conversations and important logins even when you are careful with sharing them on the web. The spyware scanning feature cleans disks and registry to look for possible installed spyware.
Secure Shopping
While this is already a common feature in most security software, it matters to know that when you’re shopping online and entering your bank details, your information is secured and protected from information hackers. The Secure Shopping feature lets you shop with confidence knowing that the browser itself by which you are entering your information is locked in a safe environment that is impossible to be hacked, tracked, or viewed.
Cloud-based Antivirus
Virus definitions need to be updated regularly. When this is not performed, the cloud-based antivirus feature interferes with updating these definitions.
Cloud-based Behavior Analysis
The behavior analysis feature is a cloud-based system that determines malicious behaviors from day zero. Again, when combined with the Sandbox technology, it sends the program to the sandbox environment and watches the behavior of such programs whether and how it will wreak havoc to the computer and the network.
Malicious Website Filtering
By verifying a blacklist of malicious websites, it prompts users whether you are launching or opening an unsafe program, or are trying to connect to a suspicious site. As the user, you can configure which sites should be blocked or allowed by going to the Advanced Settings, heading over to Security Settings > Firewall Settings > Website Filtering. You can also filter and browse allowed and blocked websites for easy configuration.
Cloud-Based Whitelisting
Aside from a blacklist of malicious sites and programs, there is of course a feature that monitors a whitelist of legitimate files. The way this is useful is that, when there is a whitelist of programs that safely pass the checks, it reduces the amount of time to scan all incoming traffic, and provides heavy scanning on the unknown programs instead of checking all programs one by one.
Game Mode
It could be annoying when updates and scheduled scans interfere with a user when playing an online game. A bonus feature includes Game Mode which minimizes prompts and notifications when this is enabled.
GeekBuddy Expert 24/7 Support
Finally, after purchasing the software solution, you will have access to customer support where any questions regarding the product will be entertained 24/7. Not only is phone, email, and chat support available, if you want to access ready information yourself, you can access Comodo’s knowledge base which provides complete information on the product as well.
Other Features
Intuitive UI
Configurable Security Rules Interface
Application Behavior Analysis
Anti-Spyware
Anti-Root Kit
Bot Protection
Application Control
Personalized Protection Alerts
Once-click Virus Scanning
User-Friendly Interface
Thorough Security Wizards
Detailed security wizards
Minimum System Requirements
| Memory: | 150MB Available RAM | ||
| Storage: | 400MB Available Hard Disk Space | ||
| Operating System: | Microsoft Windows XP, 32-bit; Microsoft Windows 10/8/8.1/7 and Vista, 32-bit and 64-bit | ||
| Internet Browser: | Internet Explorer 5.1 or above |
How To Use
Comodo Internet Security’s advanced, prevention-based, Default Deny Protection (DDP) technology protects computers from hackers, viruses, and all sorts of malware. After taking all the above points into consideration, if you think Comodo Internet Security will be a good fit for your home or business, check out its price and some of its other features here :
Once you have made the purchase, just follow these easy steps below to install Comodo Internet Security:
- Make sure to uninstall existing antivirus and firewall programs before installation.
- Download the Comodo Internet Security program.
- Click on the setup file to initiate the installation wizard.
- Select preferred language, read and agree to the End User Licence Agreement.
- Continue until you reach the configuration installation path. Select the components you wish to install.
- You will see a “Successfully Completed” dialog on completion. Click Finish.
How To Use Sandbox Technology
One of the unique features of Comodo Internet Security is its Sandbox Technology. You can run programs in a test environment so it does not affect your computer or make changes until you can identify that it is safe. Here’s how you can run programs/applications in the Comodo Sandbox:
- Granted you have already installed the Comodo Internet Security software, go to Defense+ interface and click on ‘Run a program in the sandbox.’
- Select the program you want to run.
- There are 4 kinds of restriction levels that you can use: as “untrusted” with no access to the OS and limited access rights; as “restricted” with some access to the OS and limited access rights; as “limited” with selected OS resources, and no Administrator account privileges; as “partially limited” with access to OS files, but not with loading drivers or debugging.
About Comodo Cybersecurity
Comodo Cybersecurity is a cybersecurity company that was founded in 1998 in the UK. It relocated its headquarters to New Jersey, United States in 2004. Comodo Cybersecurity provides innovative cybersecurity protection for both businesses and consumers across the LAN, web, and cloud, protecting devices against data and military-grade threats. Comodo Cybersecurity takes pride in being proactive when it comes to detecting zero-day threats and unknown files, either through their cutting-edge system or manually by tech experts in an almost precise, no-downtime, performance.
New and long-time users believe in Comodo’s promised efficacy, trusting the platform with utmost confidence. With their seamless customer experience and user trust, Comodo Cybersecurity remains to be the top choice, offering products within reasonable price points. Samsung and Shell are just some of the famous organizations that trust the company to protect them from cyber threats.
Comodo Cybersecurity also introduces many new technologies under their trademark, leading the path for other cybersecurity platforms to follow suit. One of these is the Dragon Platform. The Dragon Platform promises bulletproof protection against zero-day attacks, with fast launching load times, and zero-false positives.
Final Thoughts
Comodo Internet Security has a few advanced features like Sandbox Technology, Valkyrie System, and HIPS. For the advanced users with technical advantage on how to tweak the system, this might be a good choice.
Aside from having a neat user interface, Comodo Internet Security also requires very minimal system usage. The catch in such software solutions is, if you’re not willing to study its tricky configurations, you may need someone’s expertise for it to run properly. Because of its very sensitive security checks, some safe sites and traffic are flagged as malicious. As a business or user that benefits from this strict security protection, this proves to be the safest route. Again, for users that don’t have technical knowledge on such requirements, this will ask for some tweaking in the configuration by a hired expert.
What did you think of our product review? Did it make you want to give Comodo Internet Security? Or would you like to learn more about other kinds of internet security software? If you would still like to keep your options open, we totally understand. We have other types of internet security software on our website, and you are more than welcome to check out those.
