Norton Antivirus Is Now a Cryptominer

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
Home users these days don´t need ANY 3rd party A/V software paid or not. WD in the last year or so is all that's required. You are much more likely at home to be attacked by Scams (almost impossible to defend against by Software) -- some sophisticated A/I - Artificial Intelligence Algorithms - might appear in the future but we are a long way off that yet.

Fake websites, dubious torrents, opening email attachments from unknown senders, forwarding money to Bank accounts for services when you get emails saying please send to account xxxx when the original one is yyyy, signing up for "dubious tax refunds", giving out too much data over social media etc etc. The list is almost endless. Worry more about those things than technical geeky things like "root kits" etc.

Professional web masters, e-commerce sites, corporate networks need a different level of security entirely - but for Home users on recent versions of W10 -- WD is all you need.

Cheers
jimbo

I don't think the point of the post is whether or not we need an AV, but the fact that an AV now includes a cryptominer.

f14tomcat said:

Thank you Jimbo for the canned reply, but as you are aware, the merits of Norton as an A/V are not the topic of this news story.

I really wish this could get cleaned up, @Brink

Whoopsie! Looks like I did it again!

Excuse me @Brink if my thoughts are off-topic, but I agree with other posters who've opined that Defender is plenty good enough for most everyday Windows usage scenarios. Over the years I've gone from 9 to 6 to 3 (using only one) license packs for Norton 360. I am increasingly inclined to work from "standard Win10" configurations for testing and documentation. These days, my impression and belief both back a switch from Norton to Defender (or should I say "Windows Security"). My solution will be to build a new production PC (the old one is pushing 6 years in age) and when assembled to switch over from Norton Password Manager (the only part of the suite that I really still use directly and daily) to some other alternative. Thanks, =e=

PS: Again, as I wrote earlier, learning about built-in cryptomining as part of Norton 360 was a kind of "straw that broke the camel's back" moment for me. It's just one more thing I don't want or need from a third-party tool I'm no longer keen on using anyway...

Over the last few years Norton 360 had become more of a pest than an asset. I’m dumping it.