Antimalware, firewall, and other security programs for Windows XP working in 2023 and hopefully beyond

[Dixel]

15 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

Maybe, it is a font size problem or related to the used theme which seems to be a dark one. I would check all relevant system and programme settings.

It worked for 15 years without a problem. All started to glitch out with Thorium. But I have no documented evidence of that. Just a big, fat, huge coincidence, for now. The notebook is barely used, still has the original OS. No PoS, no updates.

Toshiba Satellite with a Celeron at 1.5Ghz. What year? 2003 or so.

 

[Dixel]

17 hours ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

Where were you when a member wasted 16 or so last pages by not calling his version.

[AstroSkipper]

1 hour ago, Dixel said:

It worked for 15 years without a problem. All started to glitch out with Thorium. But I have no documented evidence of that. Just a big, fat, huge coincidence, for now. The notebook is barely used, still has the original OS. No PoS, no updates.

Toshiba Satellite with a Celeron at 1.5Ghz. What year? 2003 or so.

 

You said all started to glitch out with Thorium. Did you install Thorium by the install.cmd file or did you just unpack the archive? And what about the "NotoEmoji Regular Segoe UI emoji" font? Did you also install it? 

Edited August 18, 2024 by AstroSkipper

[Dixel]

12 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

You said all started to glitch out with Thorium. Did you install Thorium by the install.cmd file or did you just unpack the archive? And what about the "NotoEmoji Regular Segoe UI emoji" font? Did you also install it? 

It was a "portable" version, yes, just unpacked. I didn't add the font, no. Thank you. Toady I rebooted several times, the fomts got back to normal, not for long, and Comodo sometimes says "oops, the agent has crashed, please reboot".

No strange connections. But I don't have a lot of time to observe to be sure.

[AstroSkipper]

1 hour ago, Dixel said:

It was a "portable" version, yes, just unpacked. I didn't add the font, no. Thank you. Toady I rebooted several times, the fomts got back to normal, not for long, and Comodo sometimes says "oops, the agent has crashed, please reboot".

No strange connections. But I don't have a lot of time to observe to be sure.

As you may have seen in the Thorium thread regarding my issue with sudden crashes, finding the cause of an issue can lead to an odyssey. But maybe, you try a clean unistall and then a reinstall of the Comodo Firewall. In some cases, it really helps. And don't forget to backup your firewall settings first!

Edited August 18, 2024 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[Dixel]

12 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

And don't forget to backup your firewall settings first!

Thank you! Brilliant advice!

 

12 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

maybe, you try a clean unistall and then a reinstall of the Comodo Firewall. In some cases,

I don't have the installer anymore, sorry. I'll search the old HDDs with backups.

[AstroSkipper]

4 hours ago, Dixel said:

5 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

maybe, you try a clean unistall and then a reinstall of the Comodo Firewall. In some cases,

I don't have the installer anymore, sorry. I'll search the old HDDs with backups.

I found these installers:
Comodo Firewall 6.3.39949.2976: https://web.archive.org/web/20140202172445/http://downloads.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/standalone/cfw_installer.exe
Comodo Firewall 6.3.39542.2974: https://download.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/xml_binaries/cis/cis_setup_x86.msi or https://download.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/xml_binaries/cis/cis_setup_x64.msi
Here is the command to only install the firewall from the MSI file:
msiexec /I cis_setup_x86.msi INSTALLANTIVIRUS=0 INSTALLFIREWALL=1 FWFEATURES=1 THREATCASTFEATURE=2 SETOURDNSSERVER=0 CIS_LANGUAGE_ID=1033
Comodo Firewall 6.3.39106.2972: https://web.archive.org/web/20131116044454/http://downloads.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/standalone/cispremium_installer.exe
Comodo Firewall 6.2.23257.2860: https://web.archive.org/web/20130826060441/http://downloads.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/standalone/cfw_installer.exe

Edited August 19, 2024 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[AstroSkipper]

18 hours ago, Dixel said:

I don't have the installer anymore, sorry. I'll search the old HDDs with backups.

BTW, there is a chance that this installer still exists in one of your subfolders of the c:\Windows folder, added there for a later install or uninstall of programme features. Search for it there! 

[Dixel]

On 8/18/2024 at 4:06 PM, AstroSkipper said:

I found these installers:
Comodo Firewall 6.3.39949.2976: https://web.archive.org/web/20140202172445/http://downloads.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/standalone/cfw_installer.exe
Comodo Firewall 6.3.39542.2974: https://download.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/xml_binaries/cis/cis_setup_x86.msi or https://download.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/xml_binaries/cis/cis_setup_x64.msi
Here is the command to only install the firewall from the MSI file:
msiexec /I cis_setup_x86.msi INSTALLANTIVIRUS=0 INSTALLFIREWALL=1 FWFEATURES=1 THREATCASTFEATURE=2 SETOURDNSSERVER=0 CIS_LANGUAGE_ID=1033
Comodo Firewall 6.3.39106.2972: https://web.archive.org/web/20131116044454/http://downloads.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/standalone/cispremium_installer.exe
Comodo Firewall 6.2.23257.2860: https://web.archive.org/web/20130826060441/http://downloads.comodo.com/cis/download/installs/2000/standalone/cfw_installer.exe

AstroSkipper, man-miracle! I'll test these and report back, may thanks for these rarest installers!

[AstroSkipper]

2 hours ago, Dixel said:

AstroSkipper, man-miracle! I'll test these and report back, may thanks for these rarest installers!

You're welcome.  I only picked installers of version 6.x as I was of the impression you'd prefer the version 6. But other versions are also still available. 

[Dixel]

13 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

You're welcome.  I only picked installers of version 6.x as I was of the impression you'd prefer the version 6. But other versions are also still available. 

Again, thank you very much, honestly, I don't know which is the better version, ideas? I don't mind testing 5.5 or any other, but not with the modernised UI.

[AstroSkipper]

28 minutes ago, Dixel said:

Again, thank you very much, honestly, I don't know which is the better version, ideas? I don't mind testing 5.5 or any other, but not with the modernised UI.

It's been a long time when I used Comodo Firewall. If I remember correctly, I stopped using it at the version 5. Which version introduced the modernised UI you don't like?  BTW and AFAIK, Comodo Firewall 8.4.0.5165 was the last properly working version in Windows XP.

Edited August 19, 2024 by AstroSkipper

[Dixel]

12 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

Which version introduced the modernised UI you don't like?  BTW and AFAIK, Comodo Firewall 8.4.0.5165 was the last properly working version in Windows XP.

8.4 does indeed have the ugly UI I was talking about. It had been introduced somewhere in 2012. I never tried anything higher than 6.x, not sure about the UI in the others.

[AstroSkipper]

18 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

BTW, there is a chance that this installer still exists in one of your subfolders of the c:\Windows folder, added there for a later install or uninstall of programme features. Search for it there! 

So, have you found anything yet? I'm pretty sure that the original installer was stored somewhere on the Windows system partition. When the uninstaller is called to change features, you can check which files are accessed. I assume it'll be a MSI installer.

Edited August 20, 2024 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[AstroSkipper]

9 hours ago, Dixel said:

8.4 does indeed have the ugly UI I was talking about. It had been introduced somewhere in 2012. I never tried anything higher than 6.x, not sure about the UI in the others.

If I wanted to install a Comodo Firewall 6.x.x version, I would go with Comodo Firewall 6.3.39949.2976 as it is the last archived version. You know I personally prefer Windows 10 Firewall Control XP Plus which I have been using for many years. 

Edited August 20, 2024 by AstroSkipper