Comodo Sells Out To HopSurf, Loses Sight Of Priorities

Comodo, the security software company known for their array of products including the very popular Comodo Personal Firewall has recently made a deal with HopSurf to install their toolbar with every installation of Comodo Personal Firewall.  This isn’t the first time Comodo has had the option for a toolbar to be installed along with their software.  According to the Security Garden, Comodo previously would install the Ask.com toolbar, however, had promised to remove the Ask toolbar from their installer (which they did), but, now it has been replaced by HopSurf (see screen shot below – thanks to Calendar of Updates).

I’m all for businesses making money, but, I also believe in business ethics and setting your priorities correctly.  This move by Comodo is in poor taste and quite frankly it portrays them in a negative light which it can (and probably will) come back to haunt them later.  The first problem with this move is that the toolbar is ticked by default (which means most people will have it installed) and the second problem is that because of this move by Comodo they will be destroying their greatest asset of all – the free advertising and expert recommendations that the anti-malware community provides to millions of people every year.

If Comodo thinks that the security community will continue to recommend their product, they are dead wrong.  The people who recommend Comodo after cleaning up a malware infected computer on forums across the web will no longer be doing so.  These helpers on various forums are volunteers, they do it for free and because they want to help people.  It does not hurt them (the helpers) any if they do not recommend your product (Comodo Firewall), but, it will (does) hurt you (Comodo).

Comodo, you need to set your priorities straight.  For starters, try reading your slogan “Creating Trust Online” because you certainly lost my (and many others) trust with this latest stunt.  I will no longer be recommending your product to anyone and I’m sure the rest of the security community is right behind me.

I hope you enjoyed all of the free advertising and recommendations because it’s stopping right now.