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Review on FortiClient Endpoint Security Suite Standard Edition, the FREE Antivirus by Fortinet

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

Sep
3
2009

I’ve only heard of Fortinet from VirusTotal as it is one of the antivirus engines that participate in VirusTotal. Fortinet has recently provided a free version of their antivirus program called FortiClient Endpoint Security Suite which is not much of a difference compared to the premium paid version. The only features that is not found in the Standard edition is an antispam protection, central management and logging. For a home user, these features are mostly not needed and the already available features (Antivirus/Antispyware engine, SSL and IPSec VPN clients, Personal Firewall protection, Intrusion Prevention, Web Filtering, Endpoint Application Detection, Endpoint Monitoring and Control, WAN Optimization, Anti-Rootkit Protection, Pre- and Post-Execution Behavioral Analysis, Real-Time Poisoned Webpage Protection, FortiGuard update services) makes it a very complete internet security suite.
free fortinet license
I can’t wait to test the free antivirus from Fortinet because it can be installed on Windows server and is offered free of charge to anyone – consumers, small businesses, large enterprises – who seeks comprehensive protection for their laptops and personal computers. If you didn’t know, the free version of Avira, Avast, AVG and Rising is only meant for home usage. If you install them on corporate or educational environment, that is considered piracy and can be fine.

Here’s what I have to say about the free antivirus by Fortinet.


The setup file is only 10MB in size which I’d considered it to be very small if compared to other antivirus. However the first update takes a very long time to finish, perhaps it is downloading the latest antivirus engine and definition. I also like the interface because it is very neat, simple, easy to understand and use. Every main feature is being categorized at the left hand sidebar and there is very little configuration.

Fortinet Free Antivirus

You don’t really need a powerful computer to run FortiClient. The system requirements are:

  • Pentium processor or equivalent
  • 100 MB hard disk space
  • Compatible Operating System & Minimum RAM
      • - Windows 2000: 128 MB
      - Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit: 256 MB
      - Windows Server 2003 32-bit and 64-bit: 384 MB
      - Windows Vista: 512 MB
      - Windows 7: 512 MB

    After installing FortiClient on a clean Windows XP Professional SP3 with all latest hotfixes, I am seeing a total of 8 processes with 58MB memory being taken up. Running a full system scan with normal scan priority only takes up 30% CPU usage in average. FortiClient took 9 minutes and 38 seconds to complete scanning 21817 items which is also pretty fast. When I ran a full system scan again the next day, it took only 5 minutes and 2 seconds to scan 21815 files. Very likely FortiClient maintains a database of “safe files not to scan” to cut down the scanning time.

    I’ve planted 21 virus that are currently circulating around the Internet on the test computer and sadly FortiClient only catches 10 out of 21. I noticed that most of the virus that are not detected by FortiClient are from Asian countries such as Brontok and Almanahe.
    forticlient virus detection

    I’ve also tested FortiClient against my private trojan since it came with a firewall and intrusion detection. First of all, the virus signature cannot detect the trojan. When it comes to heuristic analysis, FortiClient also fails to detect any injection. Then I connected my test computer from my laptop using the backdoor trojan, there was no warning on the intrusion detection. I am not surprised why Fortinet scored so badly in Matousec proactive security challenge.

    I also noticed another annoying issue with Fortinet which is I cannot access a shared folder on a local network. When another computer tries to access my shared folder, they get login prompt asking for password when simple file sharing is turned on. I’ve even configured the firewall to “Pass All” which means disabling the firewall, setting the network as Trusted zone and set the security level to Low but still cannot access shared folders. Finally I disabled webfilter and now I can access any shared folders on the network.

    I like the fact that the free FortiClient allows anyone to use for free on any environment and also can be installed on nearly every version of Windows including both 32-bit and 64-bit but they should really work hard on improving the virus detection and firewall protection.

    [ Download FREE FortiClient Endpoint Security Suite ]


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    • satyajit

      Thanx…but surely I’ll not use/test it.Just 10 out of 21 detection!!!!!

    • ha14

      Hi

      What about this
      http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS144601+08-Jun-2009+MW20090608
      FortiClient(TM) end-point security software was awarded a
      seventh consecutive Virus Bulletin 100% (VB100) award for 2008/2009
      testing, totaling 13 VB100 awards that Fortinet has received throughout
      its history.

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      In order to display the VB100 logo, an anti-virus product must have demonstrated in its tests that:

      * It detects all In the Wild viruses during both on-demand and on-access scanning.
      * It generates no false positives when scanning a set of clean files.

      Why isn’t the 11 virus spreading “in the wild” that I collected from my client’s network not detected by FortiClient? I never judge an antivirus based on VB100, ICSA test or West Coast Labs’ Checkmark Certification.

    • shubh

      i also satisfy with ray because its true .
      thanks ray for this.

    • rico

      Nice info again Ray, thanks for sharing, but im still believe that Kaspersky or bit defender is the best! though on kis im using only trial version, guys hope u have extra keys for kis please send it on my e-mail ; jerez_echo@yahoo.com, hehehehehe…. anyway, thanks Ray and more power to you!

    • http://www.ihomesecuritysystems.com shubh

      i also satisfy with ray because its true .
      thanks ray for this.
      OH! You’re my new favorite blogger fyi

    • http://www.newbiesblogger.net newbiesblogger

      huhu… no thanks, with that review how come I want to run it

    • http://www.newbiesblogger.net newbiesblogger

      huhu… no thanks, with that review how come I want to run it on my precious computer..

    • Albanian Guy

      Yo Ray can you write e review on F-Secure Internet Security? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.

    • arsad

      too bad that the results went bad..because i really need a free antivirus for my business, I’ve tried comodo, but I didn’t like the way it go..

    • dixie

      yay I go for kaspersky still when it comes to antivirus =)

    • http://www.incentivebux.com Claire

      yeah, i agree that Kaspersky is the best now.. but, using only trial isn’t a good choice.. it won’t protect us from dangerous virus..

    • http://tupsx.com Dorulk

      thans for the review, but not thanks to fortinet

    • Bora

      Well, I like the GUI, detection of viruses is not promising, the firewall is not top notch. I am using NAV 2009 and Online Armor 3.5 on my laptop for that purpose ( windows under LUA when appropriate). Sadly I don’t think that Fortinet gives sufficient peace of mind regarding the security of my laptop. But I have to say that this comes as no surprise. There are only a bunch of capable security softares out there and Fortinet is not one of them.
      The thing I like is that it does not take a lot of system resources, the thing I don’t like are some bugs currently present in the offered software, expected for a freebie, you need tech support in the end as expected, just like with Comodo. No, it’s not a Beta but what’s the difference anyway if it ain’t without major bugs.

    • Victor

      Raymond,

      If you have to choose 3 antivirus softwares – considering best protection against virus and malwares, what do you recommend to all of us?
      Thanks for all your great posts.

    • http://www.elgonzi.com El mejor blog

      McAfee 2010 + ThreatFire is the best combination ;)

      McAfee 2010 is still in beta stage, has little interface bugs but it´s working very good on my system.

    • roy raay

      thanks for the info mate, guess i’ll stick with nod eh!

    • http://www.greggdeselms.com Gregg DesElms

      So, then, what you’re saying, Raymond, is that Fortinet’s FortiClient isn’t really worth the powder it would take to blow it up… a notion seemingly supported by other comments here.

      Here’s the way to look at it: Comodo Internet Security’s (CIS’s) anti-virus product was a better performer even back in the days when folks in such as the Wilders Security Forums — and other places where experts in this sort of software hang out — were making fun of it.

      Of course, they’re not making much fun of it anymore, as CIS is fast becoming everything its maker promised, in late 2008 and 2009, that it would become. Why anyone, at this point, would pay for a firewall, anti-virus and HIPS protection when they can have nearly best-of-breed for free with CIS is a mystery to me.

      However, the subject, here, is FortiClient, which it seems is pretty much worthless, performance-wise. Indeed, it’s a good idea. Nice looking, not terribly resource intensive, and user-friendly. Plus, it’s more along the lines of a true “endpoint” security product, which is becoming increasingly necessary these days.

      But if it won’t detect bad things sufficiently well, then it’s little more than eye-candy and a wonderful notion.

      I’ll certainly keep an eye on it to see if it improves itself, but until it starts to post numbers like CIS, I won’t be installing it onto the computer of anyone I actually like (or even anyone I don’t).

      Nice idea, though. Nice looking. Hmm… too bad.

      _______________________________
      Gregg L. DesElms
      gregg at greggdeselms dot com
      Napa, California

    • x86 or x64?

      I could be wrong but I thought Fortinet passed vb100 on x64 machine. But I believe all the free versions are for x86 only.

    • MrChris

      Thanks for the review, Raymond. The one interesting thing I find about this software is that it is compatible with Windows Server 2003. I’m not aware of any other freeware antivirus that that can say that except for Clamwin. Clamwin only provides scanning but no on-access protection, whereas Fortinet provides both. It’s disappointing that Fortinet had such a poor detection rate with these tests.

    • Jack

      Ray, have you tried http://www.fortiguard.com/contactus.html and submit the virus that it wont’ detect?

      regards,
      Jack

    • acr

      It’s possible Rising free antivirus is compatible with Windows Server 2003. It has been confirmed to be compatible with WS 2008.

    • http://neato4u.wordpress.com/ neato4u

      Ray, Where can i get those 21 viruses which you have – for testing other antivirus application on a controlled environment?

      Can you by any chance email it over to me on a password protected zip file perhaps?

    • Brockey01

      I really hope the Pic you posted ray is not the settings you used becase Startup monitor and real time protection is Checked off.

      where those Checked?

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      @Brockey01: Yeah I disabled the real time protection so I can copy all of the virus to the computer to run a custom scan. Just right click on the tray icon and you can disable them from there.

      @neato4u: Sorry those virus are for my testing purposes only :P

    • bully

      thanks man

    • Brockey01

      Hey thats fine, but it looks promising i just wish it would work better, and have better detection

    • Richo

      Out of interest… what were the detection rates of other well known AV’s for your 21 viruses?

    • Hotsteppa

      hi ray thanx for the review.. so what is your personal favourite antivirus and firewall then?

    • prosa

      I think Fortinet make an mistake.
      The databases are not equal, free editon is a subset of premium edition

      From releases notes:

      Antivirus updates / Database

      Free Edition – Daily (using core signature database)
      Premium Edition – Hourly (using extended signature database)

      So the results from free edition are bad.

    • Alex

      From what i’ve seen on my Fortigate applience, Fortinet clearly separates the databases in two: full and most common. The difference in both is almost three times in size. It is possbile that a free edition is using only most common database, hence your result.

    • Wouter

      Alex is right. From the FortiClient user guide:
      “Note: The Use extended signature database check box is not available if you are using the Free edition. The Free edition only scans for recent antivirus files using the core antivirus signature database (recent viruses). If you want to scan your computer using the complete (extended) database, you will need to upgrade to the Premium edition.”

    • Chevalier Chen

      http://www.hacken.cc/bbs/thread-538582-1-1.html
      “Both databases are now used by both the Standard and
      Premium clients.”

    • Anubhava

      Very bad software

    • Haddad

      thank’s for the review very helpful

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