Comodo Verification Engine is a free standalone Internet security program that has been designed to “verify the authenticity and identity of websites” to ensure that sensitive data is not falling into the wrong hands. The program is cross-browser compatible supporting popular web browsers like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox but apparently not Google Chrome, Opera or Safari. It will run on all Microsoft operating systems including Windows 95, Windows XP and Windows Vista. The Internet security tool installs itself automatically in all supported web browsers.

It offers five cornerstones of verification and protection:

• Verification of web page content (brands/logos)
• Verification of login boxes
• Verification of SSL session and encryption endpoint
• Protection against Phishing attacks
• Protection against Pharming attacks

There are basically two ways that Comodo Verification Engine uses to inform the user about the active website. The first is when the user moves the mouse over a site logo or brand on that website. Comodo will display a green (that color can be changed in the options) box around the website signaling that the website has been verified (or not if it was not). The main drawback of this method is that websites have to register with Comodo for this to work. Comodo claims that most financial and popular websites did (PayPal did for example) but that it can happen that subpages on those websites have not been added if that was not requested by the site owner. It will also mean that several smaller websites and probably many non-English websites are not included as well (for example the German PayPal.de website does not verify). Comodo can verify several trust credentials such as BBB online or TRUSTe.

That’s where the second indicator of a website’s trustworthiness comes into play. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer display a padlock in the status bar of the browser when a user opens a website that is using the SSL protocol.

Moving the mouse cursor over that padlock will display the information in the way shown in the screenshot above if the website validates.

Comodo Verification Engine is an interesting tool for users who work with websites that are included in the database. This mainly means English speaking users who work primarily with either Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.

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The registry cleaner tool will scan the Windows registry for various invalid entries. Each entry is shown after the scan with the possibility to clean it up. By default a backup of the Registry will be created before any cleaning takes place. It is furthermore possible to schedule regular Registry cleanups or restore a previously created Registry backup.

The disk cleaner is a basic tool that will scan the hard drives of the computer for temporary or duplicate entries giving the user the options to delete those files from the disk. It is nowhere as extensive as tools like CCleaner offer but it covers the most widely used temporary locations.

The disk cleanup utility can be scheduled like the Registry cleaner can. Filters can be added to include or exclude certain file types from the scans. The privacy cleaner option can be used to remove several privacy related entries from the operating system. Other tools that are provided by Comodo System Cleaner are a disk wiper, a tool to calculate file crc and extensive system settings that match most Windows tweakers out there.

Comodo System Cleaner combines several important system utilities in one application. Users who are looking for tools to cleanup temporary data are currently better of with tools like CCleaner who have the advantage that they can be further customized by the user which Comodo System Cleaner cannot.

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Basically it comes down to being complicated and a nuisance that is not worth the effort. Comodo Secure Email is a free for personal use product by popular software developer Comodo that removes the complexity attribute from the process. Secure Email is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows XP or Windows Vista and fully integrates itself in popular email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird.

A software wizard will walk the user through the process of creating a digital certificate that will be used for an email address. It simply means to select the email address that should receive the digital certificate. The user enters his name and email address and the certificate will be automatically generated.

Secure Email will start signing outgoing emails digitally right away and encrypt them if the contact has provided the user with an public key as well. The whole process is automated and the user in front of the monitor does not have to worry about acquiring digital certificates or exchanging public keys.

Secure Email can also scan all mails in the email client for encrypted emails that the user might have received in the past. One of the biggest advantages of Comodo Secure Email is the automatic integration in the mail client. It integrated itself automatically on a test client that used mail accounts from various email providers and Mozilla Thunderbird.

Another interesting feature of Secure Mail is the ability to create unique single use email certificates even without knowing the recipients public key. The recipient has two options to read the email: Install Comodo Secure Email or read the email message on the Comodo website.

Secure Email Features:

• Simple and Easy to use. Fast set-up and automatic encryption and signing of outgoing emails makes it easy for even non-technical users to enjoy private and secure messaging
• Session certificates take the application beyond traditional PKI infrastructures by allowing users to encrypt messages even when they don’t have their contacts’ email certificate installed.
• Web reader service – on-line interface allows your recipient to read mail that you encrypted with a session certificate
• Encryption when your mail client doesn’t support encryption – Comodo SecureEmail operates at the network layer and provides encryption and signing capabilities if your mail client doesn’t have encryption in its feature set
• Automatic certificate exchange and installation – SecureEmail’s notification system ensures both sender and recipient are instantly updated with each others certificates
• Built-in wizard for easy sign-up and installation of Comodo E-mail Certificates (Home version allows home and personal users to quickly sign up for a free Comodo email certificate. Pro version of the software enables business customers to easily purchase Comodo corporate e-mail certificates.)
• Automatically imports relevant mail settings from all major mail clients to ensure the fastest possible set-up time
• You’re in control – granular configuration of settings means the application will work to your security preferences, not the other way around

The biggest advantage of Secure Email is the ease of use. It requires virtually no configuration after adding the email accounts to the system. The only change that users might want to make is to disable the email popup notifications that are activated by default. This can be changed in the program’s settings.

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