I’ve gotten several BSODs recently and both WhoCrashed and Windbg have said the cause is cmdguard.sys, the driver for Comodo’s Firewall Virtual Sandbox. I ran Comodo’s diagnostics and sent the reports to their Technical Support people. I just heard back from them, and they said that the problem is Comodo is conflicting with Avast!. They instructed me to uninstall Avast!. I really don’t want to do this as I like and am happy with Avast! and it’s performance.
So, I would like to know if anyone else is running Comodo Free Firewall (I’m using the current version, 10.4.2233.), and if so, are you having any problems with BSODs? Are there any insights into how to resolve this issue besides uninstalling Avast! and using another free antivirus program?
I’ve had other BSODs also but the Comodo driver was not indicated to be the cause.
I’m using Windows 8.1 and the most current version of Avast! but the BSODs occurred with the previous version of Avast! also.
Thank you very much for any information you can provide.
Thanks so much for the heads up on the additional information Avast! needs. I was just getting ready to run the support tool and thought I’d check the Forum before doing so. So, your timing was perfect!
It’s been over a week since I opened a ticket with Avast!'s Technical Support and submitted the file created by the Support Tool, but I haven’t heard anything from them yet. On September 29th, I added a note to the ticket asking if there was a problem with either the description of the issue in my ticket or with the submitted file, but that note did not prompt a reply. In the past, I’ve heard back from Technical Support within 1 day of opening ticket.
It seems that I should have gotten a reply by now even if it’s just to say they are investigating the issue which is what happened on one other ticket.
So, does anyone know of anyway to get someone in Technical Support to read and reply to my ticket?
The ticket number is LOC-562-37311. Thank you so very much for forwarding it to Avast!'s Technical Support. I also included the ticket number in the comments box associated with the submitted file generated by the Support Tool.
I’m currently running Commodo’s free firewall, as well as Avast Free Antivirus. I was able to get around this conflict by completely disabling the following Commodo features:
Auto-Sandbox
HIPS
Viruscope
Avast! comes with HIPS, and an auto-sandbox features built in which conflict with the same features in Commodo’s free firewall, and with virus protection by Avast, Viruscope is unnecessary in my opinion.
Thank you so very much for your help and the excellent suggestions. I really appreciate everything.
I have a few questions though:
Where is Auto-Sandbox in Avast!?
Do you use the Virtual Desktop? I can’t find a way of disabling it (which I really don’t want to do anyway as I think this is one of the best features in COMODO Free Firewall).
Are the settings in Avast!'s Web Scanning and Web Exclusions the same as COMODO’s HIPS? If not, how is HIPS accomplished in AVAST! Free Firewall? If it is, how have you configured these settings to behave like HIPS?
I apologize if these questions are very basic. I’m still fairly new to these 2 programs.
Thank you so very much for any additional information you can provide.
I have had no end of issues with the Comodo firewall and Avast, my solution was to switch to the ZoneAlarm Free Firewall. Once I did that I had no issues at all. Hope that helps.
Thank you so very much for the information and the suggestion. I really appreciate knowing your experiences. I actually tried ZoneAlarm Free Firewall first, but, unfortunately, I was having problems connecting to many web sites which is why I switched to COMODO Free Firewall.
I will try to answer your questions as best I can. I’ll start with your questions about Avast.
To find the settings for the HIPS feature in Avast, use the following procedure:
Double click/tap on the Avast! icon by your clock.
Click/tap on “Settings” at the bottom left of the Avast! window
Click/tap “Active Protection” near the top left of the new window.
Click/tap on the “Customize” link for the File System Shield
Click/tap on “Sensitivity” near the bottom of the left menu.
HIPS settings are at the bottom. My sensitivity is set at default, which is one lit bar.
HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System) monitors the execution of files, and code on your system in search of activity that it considers to be malicious in nature. If something runs that is considered malicious by Avast, it will halt it’s execution in order to prevent that app or code from doing harm. This feature is automatically enabled at these settings when Avast is installed.
I was incorrect concerning Avast’s sandbox feature. This feature is only available with Avast Internet Security, and Premier. Those options are not available in Avast! Free antivirus.
Commodo:
I don’t use the virtual desktop feature of Commodo, but I have in the past, and had no issues. This is basically the same as using the sandbox as everything is launched inside a contained environment. You can try leaving the auto-sandbox feature on in Commodo’s free firewall, and if you have blue screens, try disabling it.
Because Avast has built in HIPS, and virus protection, it is recommended that you disable HIPS, and Viruscope in Commodo. Disabling these should help prevent the conflicts you’ve been seeing between Commodo, and Avast.
Thank you so very much for the detailed information. I truly appreciate your taking the time to provide such precise and helpful information. I followed your instructions and configured Avast! and COMODO as you recommended.
Hopefully, these changes will prevent the conflicts between COMODO and Avast! and the resulting BSODs I’ve been experiencing.
Not a problem. If you still experience blue screens associated with your combined use of commodo, and avast, please let me know, and I will help you troubleshoot further.
Thank you so very much for the offer to continue to help me troubleshoot further should I still experience BSODs associated with my combined use of COMODO and Avast!. I am very grateful and appreciative of your kindness and willingness to help.
