Reviews on FortiClient, a free cross-platform antivirus program

FortiClient is a free antivirus product from Fortinet. Fortinet is known for producing network security hardware products. FortiClient is a cross-platform program, available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Windows Phone, iOS, and Android.

Download FortiClient here

1. Features of FortiClient

Before installing the main program, FortiClient scanned the system with an offline scan tool called FortiClient Virus Cleaner . After FortiClient Virus Cleaner finishes, FortiClient Setup will install FortiClient on the computer.

All features provided by FortiClient are presented by a dedicated tab in the left sidebar of the program. Clicking on it opens the settings and details in the right pane of the program window.

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FortiClient has 6 side tabs listing all the features of this program.

1. Compliance
2. Sandbox Detection
3. AntiVirus
4. Web Security
5. Remote Access
6. Vulnerability Scan

Compliance

The Compliance part requires either Fortinet hardware, FortiClient Enterprise Management Server (FortiClient EMS), or active FortiGate device.

Sandbox Detection

Sandbox Detection is another feature for businesses. With the help of Sandbox Detection, FortiClient can integrate with FortiSandbox, another security related technology from Fortinet.

You need to enter the server address in Sandbox Detection to enable the feature on your server. You can then choose preferred settings for different events in FortiSandbox Submission Options .

AntiVirus

Antivirus is the main component of FortiClient. You can check the FortiClient AntiVirus component's details by clicking on the Settings button located next to the Realtime Protection Enabled (or Disabled ) option. The Status section displays important security information about your computer, such as database updates, threat detection, and scan schedules.

Web Security

Web Security is the most powerful component provided by this software. FortiClient brings enterprise-grade Web Filtering Firewall for home users. Web Filtering is not only a web security feature, but also a feature called Parental Control (parental controls).

In the Protection by Site Category option , you can specify the category of websites that you want to block on your computer or network. FortiClient will then block all websites under those categories. FortiClient uses a powerful enterprise-grade Web Filter Database to block harmful websites.

Remote Access

Remote Access is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) feature provided by FortiClient. Both types of VPN, SSL-VPN and IPsec VPN, are supported.

Vulnerability Scan

Vulnerability Scan tool will scan the system for vulnerabilities and protect the system from any possible exploit operations.

2. Installation

Click the Settings option in the File tab of the program menu bar to open FortiClient Settings.

FortiClient Settings are divided into the following five sections.

1. System
2. Logging
3. VPN Options
4. AntiVirus Options
5. Advanced

Types of scans

All major scan types are available in FortiClient. You can run custom scans, full scans, quick scans, and external media scans (options for Custom Scan, Full Scan, Quick Scan, and Removable media Scan, respectively ).

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3. System impact and resource use

Use hard drive

There is no offline installer for FortiClient. You must download an online installer to download and install this antivirus software. The FortiClient installer downloads the FortiClient Virus Scanner and FortiClient Setup files . The scanner is about 10MB and the setup is about 30MB. Once installed and updated, FortiClient Free Antivirus uses about 600MB of disk space.

Use CPU and RAM when inactive

FortiClient runs many processes in the background. However, they have absolutely no effect on system performance. It only uses about 50MB of RAM. CPU usage is stable at 0%.

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Use CPU and RAM when scanning

Not much impact on the system even when FortiClient was scanning it. It only uses about 60MB of RAM while performing a full system scan. During the scan, there are 2 FortiClient processes using the power of the CPU - av_task and FortiClient Console .

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The av_task process's CPU usage fluctuates between 5 and 15% (stable at around 10%) and the CPU usage of the FortiClient Console process fluctuates between 8 and 12% (stable at around 10 %).

So a total of about 20% of CPU power is used continuously while performing a full system scan.

5. User interface and ease of use

The interface is very modest. Everything is contained in a small program window. FortiClient has 6 side tabs representing each feature. Clicking on each tab opens settings related to that feature. Blue theme is great for Windows.

Lesley Montoya

Update 24 October 2020