Norton is installing a Cryptocurrency miner called Norton Crypto (NCrypt.exe) | Hacker News

Norton is installing a Cryptocurrency miner called Norton Crypto (NCrypt.exe) on end user systems with out so much as a dialogue during the install of its security product.

There is no way to prevent it from installing on your system or disabling it. You have to physically delete the NCrypt.exe in the Program Files\Norton directory and there is no guarantee it does not come back with a software update or a 3rd party finds a way to exploit it.

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  • Sasuke [comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    glad i managed to convince my grandparents to uninstall norton. they were even paying for it...

    • inshallah2 [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      It's a real shame how the uninformed or misinformed (the elderly in particular) in the US get abused by companies of all kinds. The government just throws up its hands and sings a paean to the wonder of the free market. Tech companies can be such slime. They can make so much money do to inertia.

      Years ago it took me more than a year and a half to get 70 something neighbor to dump IE and start using Firefox. A tech company getting prime access to the desktop is invaluable. Decades ago Judges should have forced Microsoft to—

      That's enough. Not only was starting to rant - I was preaching to the choir.

    • Sasuke [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      nevermind my granpa has apparently renewed his norton subscription

      :agony:

  • Sasuke [comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    everyone involved in this deserves to burn in hell for making me have to explain to my grandpa what crypto mining is

    • Sasuke [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      at least my grandpa said he will uninstall norton now, but the next time he asks for help with his computer i'll probably discover that he's replaced it with mcafee or something

  • Sushi_Desires
    ·
    3 years ago

    Excellent business decision by norton

  • blobjim [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Extra scummy they called it NCrypt to make it sound like some kind of "secure storage" service or something.