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New version of Norton 360 installs a crypto miner on your PC by default
If you are a user of Norton 360 antivirus, then you might want to ditch the software altogether. Ever since last year they've been experimenting with a crypto miner, which now is getting enabled by default. And they're doing this silently.
On social platforms more and more users are starting to complain about the 'new feature' which has absolutely nothing to do with the core functionality of the software suite, being anti-virus software. If you read up on the explanation from Norton, the miner is mining ethereum. Norton claims to store the crypto at their servers, and take a 15% share. Whilst that sounds fair, you need to weigh in that you yourself are paying for your hardware investment and energy used. meaning, Norton gets 15% of your ethereum value by doing ... exactly nothing.
Unfortunately, this is once again, one of the many examples where a company goes wrong. Meanwhile, end-users are now complaining that they cannot seem to disable the miner. According to Twitter user Chantelle, users should first navigate to Norton 360's admin settings page and disable Norton Product Tamper Protection. NCrypt.exe can be uninstalled only after it has been disabled.
Norton has explained in a faq that the service is activated only with the user's permission (opt-in). Additionally, users can disable the service through the Norton Crypto dashboard. The corporation makes no explanation in the faq as to why the miner is now installed automatically. if you weigh in energy cost and hardware write-off, the bottom line is that the end-user is at a loss and Norton is making a profit. Despite the mentioned 0.85:0.15 ratio.
Norton does not have to do anything for this and you bear the costs. Our advice, uninstall Norton software and walk away from that brand, and never use their software again. It's the only way that companies will learn that what they are implementing, is wrong.
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somemadcaaant
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Joined: 2003-04-23
Senior Member
Posts: 450
Joined: 2003-04-23
#5979580 Posted on: 01/06/2022 03:43 AM
schmidtbag
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Joined: 2012-11-10
Senior Member
Posts: 7236
Joined: 2012-11-10
#5979590 Posted on: 01/06/2022 06:13 AM
So the anti-virus is installing a virus.
What a time to be alive!
So norton was the virus all along :p
I have always said that Norton (as well as McAffee, Avast, and AVG) were worse than the average virus, because they do everything malware does:
Hog a lot of I/O, disk space, network bandwidth, RAM, and CPU power
Have annoying pop-ups that prevent you from getting things done
Said pop-ups ask you for money
They leave behind a nasty trail of files and registry entries
Removing them sometimes causes more things to not work
They collect your data
They don't actually remove viruses.
And probably other things that aren't coming to mind. They're a total scam and the only people who still buy them are the same sorts of people who said Intel Macs were better at graphic design or that you should discharge your battery to 0% before charging it again. Norton back in the 90s actually did something. As far as I'm concerned, they've been a problem for well over a decade.
So the anti-virus is installing a virus.
What a time to be alive!
So norton was the virus all along :p
I have always said that Norton (as well as McAffee, Avast, and AVG) were worse than the average virus, because they do everything malware does:
Hog a lot of I/O, disk space, network bandwidth, RAM, and CPU power
Have annoying pop-ups that prevent you from getting things done
Said pop-ups ask you for money
They leave behind a nasty trail of files and registry entries
Removing them sometimes causes more things to not work
They collect your data
They don't actually remove viruses.
And probably other things that aren't coming to mind. They're a total scam and the only people who still buy them are the same sorts of people who said Intel Macs were better at graphic design or that you should discharge your battery to 0% before charging it again. Norton back in the 90s actually did something. As far as I'm concerned, they've been a problem for well over a decade.
Nourage
Member
Posts: 25
Joined: 2006-03-09
Member
Posts: 25
Joined: 2006-03-09
#5979591 Posted on: 01/06/2022 06:15 AM
The worst point about this is when this Crypto miner is enabled, even when it's not active, then you'll suffer from a very high GPU usage ins the "dwm" process (which will crippler your PC literally). This caused me to reinstall Window once since I didn't know the cause and luckily I figured out the reason before I do another reinstall.
Way to go Norton! At least have the decency to be transparent about what you're doing with the poor-Norton-user computers.
The worst point about this is when this Crypto miner is enabled, even when it's not active, then you'll suffer from a very high GPU usage ins the "dwm" process (which will crippler your PC literally). This caused me to reinstall Window once since I didn't know the cause and luckily I figured out the reason before I do another reinstall.
Way to go Norton! At least have the decency to be transparent about what you're doing with the poor-Norton-user computers.
Keitosha
Senior Member
Posts: 4940
Joined: 2004-11-16
Senior Member
Posts: 4940
Joined: 2004-11-16
#5979604 Posted on: 01/06/2022 08:32 AM
I don't know if the latter is still a thing.
Sadly greed took over in many markets. Software became sub based. Apparently not enough, so lets add ads, mining, NFT's as well. Not profiting the consumer of course. Even Samsung wants to implement NFT somethings in their TV's as well. I wouldn't be surprised if they mined as well in the background. Or another example Android TV / Nvidia Shield / Chromecast w GTV (which I have) with all of them having the home screen for 3/4 filled with ads. My brother has a TV with Android TV and an Nvidia Shield...... both have the same home screen and the same ads (pushed by Google). Even my Philips TV with Saphi platform thought it was a good idea to implement ads for "better TV's" from them (which some remains on screen, only to be removed when power cycle).
Disgusting world we live in.
But who else is doing this crap , I feel sorry for people who have no ideal what's happening here, we as Gurus have a duty to spread the word !
Razer was installing a Monero miner with its drivers a few years ago, which allowed you to mine for Razer HW (the currency was valid for only a year and it took years to mine enough for the simplest mice). They backtracked after the backlash. More jumped on the Monero bandwagon back in 2017/2018 with mining in the background via your browser.I don't know if the latter is still a thing.
Sadly greed took over in many markets. Software became sub based. Apparently not enough, so lets add ads, mining, NFT's as well. Not profiting the consumer of course. Even Samsung wants to implement NFT somethings in their TV's as well. I wouldn't be surprised if they mined as well in the background. Or another example Android TV / Nvidia Shield / Chromecast w GTV (which I have) with all of them having the home screen for 3/4 filled with ads. My brother has a TV with Android TV and an Nvidia Shield...... both have the same home screen and the same ads (pushed by Google). Even my Philips TV with Saphi platform thought it was a good idea to implement ads for "better TV's" from them (which some remains on screen, only to be removed when power cycle).
Disgusting world we live in.
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Joined: 2006-09-30
Never ending story of Crypto and The Greed, where the first one can't exist without the latter.