Norton 360. Is it Virus Protection or a Virus all in itself.

[TDZ]

This was interesting to say the least. My gf got a new laptop, and it came with Norton 360 for up to 4 computers, last week. Now, I run a 2 year old Vista machine and have never been a big fan of anti-virus protections. But, she thought it would be nice to stick it on my machine so she did.

Now, what ensued for the next few days was quite interesting. Keep in mind the laptop which has the following specs on it (remember, it is 2 years old. Purchased 12/2008, so a little over 2 years.):

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5800@2.00GHz
Memory: 3.00 GB
System Type: 32 Bit

As you can see, this is no hotrod, but it is a fairly well equipped Compaq CQ70. Most of the time this thing will do what I need without hesitation.

Also added a wireless keyboard & mouse to it since I've worn out both on this laptop. I use it for writing php code.

Well, once the Norton 360 was in she started to slow down. It wasn't a lot at first and I attributed it to having to many programs open at once. Doing the natural thing, shut down the ones I didn't need at the time and keep going.

No good, works for a short period but slows back down again. Clear cookies, history, clean up the drive and it works good short term but slows down again. Interesting to say the least.

Next up I head in and look at the Task Manager. It seems my CPU usage, after doing a full shut down and reboot is running constantly at 97-100%, literally. WTF is up with that? Memory has 1/2 a gig left as the rest is being consumed and nothing extra is running.

Next step to figure this out was to kick out the items that are new. First went the mouse and keyboard, shut down and reboot. No change in system performance. Okay, Norton 360 was the last program to be installed so I headed over to uninstall it and this is when it blew my mind:

Norton 360 makes a mirror of your hard drive, allegedly for back-up purposes, and transfers it automatically via an internal FTP program to their servers. WTF is up with this? Talk about coming in the back door to look around and take what you want.

It appears that while Norton is protecting you from scammers & spammers it is in effect taking all the data it wants from your system, with your permission because you installed it, and transfers that data to their servers. What is really strange is this could be done in the middle of the night via an update but Norton has this running pretty much constantly in the background it appears to me.

I'm not a computer guru, I write php/sql code. But I can only begin to imagine what Norton 360 could do with these alleged back-ups and why does it need to literally consume so much CPU constantly?

I uninstalled Norton 360 and watched my cpu usage drop to 4% and below after restarting the system. Of course I had the high spikes during restart that we all have, but this blows my mind that an anti-virus program will consume so much of your memory to transfer your data to them.

Anyone else had an issue with N360?

 

[Middleground]

I have the solution you need. Tell your girlfriend to pack up her laptop, return it to the store and get a Mac.

You won't need Norton or any other virus protection.

Problem solved.

 

[tessaesque]

I always referred to AOL as a virus....I use free virus software w/no problems in function or performance. No virus' either.

Ain't payin' for a Mac. Steve Jobs has enough money.

 

[Cold Highway]

I have the solution you need. Tell your girlfriend to pack up her laptop, return it to the store and get a Mac.

You won't need Norton or any other virus protection.

Problem solved.

The Mac has no viruses bull**** is more or less a myth at this point. With the popularity of the Ipad, Iphone and Apple in general in the last few years. Coders have started to develop virus for the precious Mac OS.

As for the OP, Norton has always been a bitch and a resource hog, I would switch to AVG or if you do want a product that you pay for yearly go with McAfee.

 

[Redress]

The Mac has no viruses bull**** is more or less a myth at this point. With the popularity of the Ipad, Iphone and Apple in general in the last few years. Coders have started to develop virus for the precious Mac OS.

As for the OP, Norton has always been a bitch and a resource hog, I would switch to AVG or if you do want a product that you pay for yearly go with McAfee.

It goes a bit beyond this even. There have always been viruses made for Mac's, they are just rarer. However, people who own Mac's tend to be less attentive to keeping their system clean, so when Mac's encounter a virus, the rate of infection is actually higher.

I use Avira myself and have become a huge fan of it. Like it much better than AVG.

 

[Shadney]

This was interesting to say the least. My gf got a new laptop, and it came with Norton 360 for up to 4 computers, last week. Now, I run a 2 year old Vista machine and have never been a big fan of anti-virus protections. But, she thought it would be nice to stick it on my machine so she did.

Now, what ensued for the next few days was quite interesting. Keep in mind the laptop which has the following specs on it (remember, it is 2 years old. Purchased 12/2008, so a little over 2 years.):

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5800@2.00GHz
Memory: 3.00 GB
System Type: 32 Bit

As you can see, this is no hotrod, but it is a fairly well equipped Compaq CQ70. Most of the time this thing will do what I need without hesitation.

Also added a wireless keyboard & mouse to it since I've worn out both on this laptop. I use it for writing php code.

Well, once the Norton 360 was in she started to slow down. It wasn't a lot at first and I attributed it to having to many programs open at once. Doing the natural thing, shut down the ones I didn't need at the time and keep going.

No good, works for a short period but slows back down again. Clear cookies, history, clean up the drive and it works good short term but slows down again. Interesting to say the least.

Next up I head in and look at the Task Manager. It seems my CPU usage, after doing a full shut down and reboot is running constantly at 97-100%, literally. WTF is up with that? Memory has 1/2 a gig left as the rest is being consumed and nothing extra is running.

Next step to figure this out was to kick out the items that are new. First went the mouse and keyboard, shut down and reboot. No change in system performance. Okay, Norton 360 was the last program to be installed so I headed over to uninstall it and this is when it blew my mind:

Norton 360 makes a mirror of your hard drive, allegedly for back-up purposes, and transfers it automatically via an internal FTP program to their servers. WTF is up with this? Talk about coming in the back door to look around and take what you want.

It appears that while Norton is protecting you from scammers & spammers it is in effect taking all the data it wants from your system, with your permission because you installed it, and transfers that data to their servers. What is really strange is this could be done in the middle of the night via an update but Norton has this running pretty much constantly in the background it appears to me.

I'm not a computer guru, I write php/sql code. But I can only begin to imagine what Norton 360 could do with these alleged back-ups and why does it need to literally consume so much CPU constantly?

I uninstalled Norton 360 and watched my cpu usage drop to 4% and below after restarting the system. Of course I had the high spikes during restart that we all have, but this blows my mind that an anti-virus program will consume so much of your memory to transfer your data to them.

Anyone else had an issue with N360?

Oh yes I had the same problem, however I have a temper and I ended up punching the screen, while plugged in. It was quite a sparkle show, but I digress. I also tried to uninstall Norton 360, but it would not allow it. I had had this Norton 360 for a year....good grief I am lucky that my bank account wasn't hacked. I now run Webroot without any extra usages or problems. McAfee and Norton and Panda are the ones I will never return to again. Thank you for your post, I am glad that I wasn't the only one with the issue.

 

[clownboy]

I have the solution you need. Tell your girlfriend to pack up her laptop, return it to the store and get a Mac.

You won't need Norton or any other virus protection.

Problem solved.

That's not true anymore. In fact, now you're just low hanging fruit. There are enough macs out there now for the script kiddies to care about attacking macs, there just weren't before. Not to mention even the virus folks feel sorry for them, cluelessly paying way too much for their toys. :lamo

 

[Middleground]

That's not true anymore. In fact, now you're just low hanging fruit. There are enough macs out there now for the script kiddies to care about attacking macs, there just weren't before. Not to mention even the virus folks feel sorry for them, cluelessly paying way too much for their toys. :lamo

So far so good. Never an issue at all.

 

[clownboy]

So far so good. Never an issue at all.

Do you know enough to even tell? You could easily be part of a zombie army.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

This was interesting to say the least. My gf got a new laptop, and it came with Norton 360 for up to 4 computers, last week. Now, I run a 2 year old Vista machine and have never been a big fan of anti-virus protections. But, she thought it would be nice to stick it on my machine so she did.

Back in the Day, Peter Norton was one of the Great Ones. He produced some of the most spectacularly great system maintenance software for MS-DOS and Windows that the world had ever seen up to that point.

Then he sold his business and his products to Symantec. And the rights to his name.

Symantec is a company whose entire business is founded on buying up once-great software products, and completely ruining them, turning them to garbage.

And really, that's all you need to know about any modern software product being sold under Peter Norton's name. It's from Symantec, and it's garbage. Get rid of it.


That said, Windows remains extraordinarily vulnerable to malware, and its is just plain stupid to run any version of it on an Internet-connected computer without some reputable anti-malware software running. I've found MalwareBytes to be pretty good at stopping malware, while not needlessly harming the system's performance.

 

[beerftw]

I always referred to AOL as a virus....I use free virus software w/no problems in function or performance. No virus' either.

Ain't payin' for a Mac. Steve Jobs has enough money.

hey dont mock aol,their free floppies they sent 50 times a week in the mail always gave me free storage.

 

[Green Balls]

Norton and McAfee are both crap antivirus that consume your RAM and CPU. I have used AVG for years without any issues. I do scan my computers with other utilities from time to time as a precaution. You really can't trust one piece of software to do everything. I would be a bit concerned if someone installed something on my computer without letting me know first.