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honda12
2008-05-17, 19:26
NOTE: THIS SERVICE IS ONLY FREE UNTIL 10th JUNE

Introduction

I recently came across Comodo's remote free PC tuneup service. I read the thread in their forums and saw that it only included basic tune ups using 'Disk Cleanup', 'msconfig' and 'Disk Defrag'

I decided to try it out anyway to see what it was like. Clicking on 'Tune my PC!' link resulted in a new chat window popping up. I was greeted by a Comodo Expert.

I asked many questions and was pleasantly surprised by the swiftness of the replies. I was happy that I was speaking to a human being, not a robot! :laugh:

The service works by the helper sending you a little application that enables them to remotely connect to your computer. After asking all the questions I could think of, I gave permission for the helper to start. First he asked for my email address, of course being curious I asked:
why?He replied:
I will need your e-mail for the daily report and customer evidence, though it is optional.

If I had not asked why I do not think he would have said it was optional. The user group that Comodo are targeting would probably not ask any questions so they would give out their email addresses. Personally I think that is a bad thing, so Comodo loses marks for this.

Connecting

The helper then sent me a download link for the remote application. Being Comodo, the connection was very secure.

It took only a couple of seconds to download the file - it it very small. I ran it (no install, just a standalone .exe) and it gave me a long licence agreement (that I did not read!)


A box then came up saying that I should close any private and sensitive data. After clicking 'Connect' another box popped up showing the connection status. There was a button next to so that you could end the session.

I kept on clicking connect but the box just disappeared. I told him this. I then suggested that Avast! Antivirus might be stopping the connection. He told me to disable the protection so that we could proceed.

Even when we were finally connected, there was lag and big pauses in the connection.

The Tweaking

The helper could move my cursor around on my desktop (and obviously see what was on my desktop :laugh: No - I don't have any naughty stuff! But if you do, I recommend you just move it to your My Documents to avoid any embarrassment! :laugh:). I could also move the cursor around and then joked 'I better not move then!'. I was quite tempted to go into paint and draw 'Hi!'. I managed to restrain myself and he told me that he was first going to make a system restore point.

Afterwards he said he was going to check my start-up list. He went to msconfig and asked me to uncheck any programs I don't need at start up.

I said:

sorry, im not too sure which ones to uncheck!

He then explained in simple terms to me about my start-up list and unchecked a couple of boxes (with my permission)


Afterwards he then told me that he was going to a 'Disk Cleanup'

The cursor magically moved to the start menu and he opened Disk Cleanup. He asked me if I needed any of the items checked - I said no and he deleted them.

Finally, he asked me to do a C: Drive disk defragment. He asked me if I knew how to do it and said 'yes' - He asked me to do it due to the poor connection. I internet connection is quite fast and I cannot see the connection problem being completely on my part. Others may have had better connections, maybe I was just unlucky or did it at peak time.

That was all, he said thank you and stopped the remote connection. I thanked him and he finally replied:


Thank you for your time and trust in Comodo, if you have any additional problems, do not hesitate to contact us at any time!


Verdict

Overall this service is good for novice computer users, and it was nice to have a visual representation of what the helper was doing. Unfortunately Comodo loses marks on the speed of service. The connection was poor and so everything took a loooong time. Along with the stuff at the beginning, the service was slightly tiresome because it requires your full attention to confirm things.

I just feel that it would have been quicker if the helper had just given me the instructions and left!

Friendliness: 10/10
Ease of use: 8/10
Speed of service: 4/10

tashi
2008-05-17, 19:52
:laugh:

The service works by the helper sending you a little application that enables them to remotely connect to your computer.
<snip>
and it gave me a long licence agreement (that I did not read!)

You let someone remote into your computer and didn't read the license? Naughty. :wink:

I wouldn't recommend allowing anyone to have access to a machine to perform such silly stuff. :p:

drragostea
2008-05-17, 19:58
I've experienced one of those "remote connections" before when a Verizon representative attempted to "speed up" my connection. Unfortunately, it did not work. Their simple way was to clean the temp. files, and cache. Basically, those three processes like honda12 mentioned were basic operations that anyone could perform... if they knew where to find it :laugh:.

Aye, I think it was a good service... but going through all the trouble of EULA and connecting [to me] was just not worth it. Like tashi said... Silly :halo:.

honda12
2008-05-18, 00:35
well what do ya do when ya bored lol!? :laugh:

looking back at it - it does seem like a complete waste of time

hmm...it must have been the coffee!

:coffee: + :clown: = :crazy:

drragostea
2008-05-18, 03:23
Aha. I like the equation honda12. Of course. But it is up to the user's choice and opinion whether to run the free "service". Lols, anyone can run that if they can find it. Spybot-SD monitors" or somewhat monitors your start-up manager. Well not exactly monitor, but you can see the different programs that start up when the PC boots. Hah. I limit my start-up manager to 5 programs. :) Quite a fast booter.