Forticlient VPN Catalina 10.15.7: site unreachable

juan___ wrote:

I've "uninstalled everyhing from Forticlient" so the issue keeps going on.

The problem here is that you almost certainly have not uninstalled everything from Forticlient. Many Mac users think they can just drag files to the trash to uninstall software. Sometimes that is true, and that builds confidence that they can do that the next time. But for any kind of system modification like this, it is NEVER true. You MUST use an official uninstaller app or uninstallation instructions provided directly from the developer. Please read that last sentence again. Every single word is important. You can't delete files yourself. You must NEVER attempt to use any kind of "clean up" or "app zapper". And sadly, in some cases, even if you do everything correctly, exactly as I've asked, it won't help. Some developers are simply incompetent and/or don't care. Sometimes they don't have uninstallers or their uninstallers don't work. This is kind of crazy if you think about it, but you can't even do a Google search on this. If you try, most of your search results will return only malware or scamware. Some of them may be accurate and legitimate, but can you tell the difference?

When you perform that DNS lookup, it is clearly returning a local network location, which is invalid. That means some kind of software or configuration setting from the VPN is still installed. What part that is, I can't guess.

I wish I could tell you more, but ironically enough, I can't. The Apple Support Communities Use Agreement forbids me from giving you a link to a legitimate tool that I developed that will show you exactly what parts of this software are still installed. Maybe you can put 1+1 together or someone else can give you the link. It's a crazy world we live in today, eh?

Suggest you download Directly for a Trusted Developer this Application called EtreCheck. It is free or paid for additional features. The Developer is also a Respected Contributor to these Forums and if often on-line ( haha ). Run the Application with Full Disk Access ( Security and Privacy >> Full Disk Access ) and post back the Report via the Additional Text Icon on the bottom tool Bar 3rd Icon to last. The Report will not reveal any Personal Information so it is Trusted.

We can see the hardware and software and suggest possible solutions.

juan___ wrote:

It seems that you work in pairs where he/she/them can't post the app, and then some person says that it's legitimate and provides the link. It's a crazy world we live in today, eh?

Apple recently changed the Apple Support Communities Use Agreement to forbid posting any “Links to personal or professional websites or any link that results in any accrual of compensation or benefit to you.” So that meant I could no longer post links myself. Other people can still post the link, as long as it is “directly related to a relevant technical support question or answer”.

So yes. That effectively means that in certain rare cases, we do have to “work in pairs” when I think there is a chance than an EtreCheck report could be really useful and no one else has posted a link yet.

It is very unusual for an app to modify routing tables. Plus, routing tables are typically a more lower-level configuration change to direct network operations to specific interfaces. They are more commonly used on servers that are connected to multiple different networks. According to what you have already posted, that domain is being resolved to a local IP address. Macs do DNS resolution differently than other systems. This looks like a DNS resolution issue. There could be an entry in your /etc/hosts file or there could be some component still running in a hidden directory. Because this is a local IP address, this suggests the software was trying to re-route public internet requests to a local proxy, maybe as part of some kind of ad-blocking or security service.

Using a Commercial VPN is normally under two circumstances, Mandated by Employer to Work Off Site and connect to Corporate Network or connecting to Bank or other Financial Institutions. Outside of this, the purported " keep your data private and secure " is a myth as outlined in This Article

Would suggest removing this VPN software as per Developers Instruction and save you money.

juan___ wrote:

But at the last you try to offer me a "legitimate" tool that you developed, and this is a crazy world? How can you say that your legitimate and extremely useful app could help to understand this problem? Why should I trust you, user with the name of the developer company?

Indeed it is a crazy world. My app has been used by many people to resolve problems like this. But the truth is, I rarely recommend it here on the forums. I only mention it in cases like this where it could likely resolve a difficult problem in just a couple of minutes.

If you try to help, don't come here to advertise your app, seriously. Please. DON'T DO IT.

It’s a free app. And it can help enormously in problems like this.

I've never said anything about high usage or frozen machine.

Nor did I.

Also, I didn't mentioned how I'd checked the deletion of the fortinet files. Why yo assume that I've used an app instead of the official uninstaller?

Because that is something that people commonly do. If you notice, I also mentioned the possibility that you tried to manually uninstall, which is also very common. And I mentioned uninstallers that don’t work. I’m not familiar with this particular VPN, but I know of another very popular VPN whose uninstaller flat-out doesn’t work. I even complained directly to a developer of the product when I met him at a conference once. It didn’t help. In short, my assumption was valid.

If its make you feel better at night, I downloaded and it's just crap. Didn't told me anything because of, as I said before, is a problem on routing or something in the network configuration.

In this context, it isn’t designed to tell you anything. The idea is that you would post your report here in the forums. Other people would see it and offer suggestions on how to correct the problem. Even if the report didn’t show the common problems that I would expect to see, that would still be helpful because people could then skip trying to fix those most common causes and jump right to more obscure ones.

Now if you liked the end result and had gotten the problem fixed, then my hope is that you might purchase the Power User package to help you manage some of these computing complexities on your own, but that is entirely optional. The vast majority of people use EtreCheck for free, get their problem fixed, and then move on with their lives. And that’s fine.

Ironically enough, your rudeness and defensiveness give me a justification to post an actual advertisement for the Power User package.

Welcome and have a good day / night / afternoon.

Amen and well put ;-))