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Highlights
- Norton Crypto, a product of the Norton 360, allows the users to mine cryptocurrencies on their system when it is idle.
- Many users are complaining of its inability to uninstall, once installed.
- The firm charged mining fees of as high as 15% and fee for all Ethereum transactions.
When leading antivirus software firm Norton antivirus released its Norton Crypto last year, it was dubbed to be a watershed moment for the company. The Norton crypto claims to allow the users to mine Ethereum while their computers remain idle. The feature was first of its kind as for the first time an anti-malware software company came up with a mining software.
However, the challenges started when the users were unable to uninstall it once installed despite having the admin rights. Many claimed that Norton has in fact secretly installing the Norton crypto (NCrypt.exe) software without the users’ permission, accusing the firm of invading privacy of the user.
What is Norton crypto and how does it work?
Norton Crypto, a product of the Norton 360, allows the users to mine cryptocurrencies on their system when it is idle. Although its use is limited (mostly in US), but many have raised voices for its inability to uninstall it. Many believe it to be a bug, which seems to have crept into the system, which is making it hard to uninstall, once installed.
Once accepted, the anti-virus software creates Ethereum wallets for its users, which is in an encrypted form and stored in the Norton cloud. The firm charges mining fees as high as 15% and fee for all Ethereum transactions. So, in a way, the users feel that it’s a smart way employed by the firm to mint money at the cost of the users.
Having said that, not all systems are compatible with the Norton Crypto. In order to run Norton crypto, the user needs to have specific hardware compatibility and will need Nvidia graphics card with at least 6GB of memory. Besides, the Windows software also needs to have Win 7 and is not supported by MacOS or Windows 10.
Conclusion
Considered to be one of the safest anti-malware software, this certainly seems to be the unwarranted attention that the firm is getting. While there have been software-related issues with other competing firms, the Norton Crypto has certainly dented its image to a large extent.
The complaints are not just limited to Twitter. Several forums have started voicing their opinion against Norton on this crypto feature. While Norton itself highlighted in a report an increase in the number of cases of hacking and scamming, such incidents only give firms a wake-up call to be more vigilant and maintain higher standards of online security.
