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Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 16-Mar-2021 | 6:05AM · Edited: 16-Mar-2021 | 6:10AM · 25 Replies ·

I just noticed I've stopped receiving email notifications from the Norton Community.  For example, here are two replies posted yesterday (15-Mar-2021) in threads I'm subscribed to that I wasn't notified about:

     Posted: 15-Mar-2021 | 10:55AM • Edited: 15-Mar-2021 | 11:02AM • Permalink (posted by imbart)
     Posted: 15-Mar-2021 | 5:34PM • Edited: 15-Mar-2021 | 5:34PM • Permalink (posted by bjm_)

I'm not sure if it's relevant but I logged in to the forum twice today and was required to complete a captcha first to prove I'm not a robot.

Accepted Solution
Kudos1 Stats

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 18-Mar-2021 | 8:42AM · Permalink

Update: We have fixed an issue with community email notifications are not being sent for subscribed posts/comments. 

View Accepted Solution in Context

Replies

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 16-Mar-2021 | 7:10AM · Permalink

I have not received any emails either for 2 days.

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 16-Mar-2021 | 10:56AM · Edited: 16-Mar-2021 | 11:00AM · Permalink

Me Too

My understanding is Community Admin are checking into this.

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 16-Mar-2021 | 12:23PM · Permalink

@lmacri @xjoex,

The email notifications should be working now. Please monitor and let me know if email notifications are not sent for any new posts/comments made to subscribed posts/boards. 

Sunil_GA | Norton Community Administrator | NortonLifeLock
Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 16-Mar-2021 | 2:43PM · Permalink

Sunil_GA:

@lmacri @xjoex,

The email notifications should be working now. Please monitor and let me know if email notifications are not sent for any new posts/comments made to subscribed posts/boards. 

Hi Sunil_GA:

I received a notification for the @mention only. I believe I should have also received a separate notification with a header starting with "[Norton Community] New comment on <thread title>" to notify me of your new reply in this thread but that second notification wasn't received.

I also noticed if I click that "view the comment" link in the "You were mentioned" notification shown above I'm directed to the URL https://community.norton.com/en/comment/8501838, but that incorrectly lands me at the top of the thread and not on your actual reply at https://community.norton.com/en/comment/8501838#comment-8501838 where you added the @mention.

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 16-Mar-2021 | 3:43PM · Edited: 16-Mar-2021 | 3:44PM · Permalink

@Sunil_GA
Email notifications are not working, for me.  

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 16-Mar-2021 | 5:45PM · Permalink

I'm receiving notification for @mention only.

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 17-Mar-2021 | 3:38AM · Permalink

Thanks for the details, @lmacri @bjm_. We are looking into it. 

Sunil_GA | Norton Community Administrator | NortonLifeLock
Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 17-Mar-2021 | 8:01AM · Permalink

I still am not receiving any notifications for forum posts.

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 17-Mar-2021 | 8:11AM · Permalink

Hi @peterweb, Forum dev team looking into this report. Please let me know if you receive notification for this comment and @ mention. 

Sunil_GA | Norton Community Administrator | NortonLifeLock
Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 17-Mar-2021 | 8:27AM · Permalink

@Sunil_GA

Yes. I received the notification for the @ mention, but not the post itself.

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 17-Mar-2021 | 10:50AM · Permalink

Thanks for the confirmation, will update once I get any details on the issue fix from the dev. 

Sunil_GA | Norton Community Administrator | NortonLifeLock
Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 17-Mar-2021 | 5:29PM · Permalink

TEST

Kudos1 Stats

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 17-Mar-2021 | 6:30PM · Permalink

I started receiving notifications this evening. Hope all is fixed.

Accepted Solution
Kudos1 Stats

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 18-Mar-2021 | 8:42AM · Permalink

Update: We have fixed an issue with community email notifications are not being sent for subscribed posts/comments. 

Sunil_GA | Norton Community Administrator | NortonLifeLock
Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 18-Mar-2021 | 10:28AM · Edited: 18-Mar-2021 | 10:29AM · Permalink

Sunil_GA:
Update: We have fixed an issue with community email notifications are not being sent for subscribed posts/comments. 

Hi Sunil_GA:

Thanks for the confirmation.

I still have to complete a captcha at every login (and I'm not sure if the URL for the "view the comment" link mentioned <above> has been fixed in the @mention email notifications) but I'll mark this particular problem as solved.

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 18-Mar-2021 | 2:54PM · Permalink

lmacri:
Sunil_GA:
Update: We have fixed an issue with community email notifications are not being sent for subscribed posts/comments. 

Hi Sunil_GA:

Thanks for the confirmation.

I still have to complete a captcha at every login (and I'm not sure if the URL for the "view the comment" link mentioned <above> has been fixed in the @mention email notifications) but I'll mark this particular problem as solved.

I had an issue with a site that I frequently logged into suddenly requiring Captcha every time. I cleared the cookies for that site and that stopped the issue. 

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 19-Mar-2021 | 5:17AM · Permalink

peterweb:

...I had an issue with a site that I frequently logged into suddenly requiring Captcha every time. I cleared the cookies for that site and that stopped the issue. 

Hi peterweb:

Thanks for the hint, but my cookies are cleared on exit each time I close my default Firefox browser.  I tried MS Edge (Chromium) today, which I rarely use, and got a CAPTCHA at log in with that browser as well.

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64-bit Win 10 Pro v2004 build 19041.804 * Firefox v86.0.1 * Windows Defender v4.18.2102.3
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, Toshiba 256 GB NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 19-Mar-2021 | 6:20AM · Permalink

Maybe try not clearing the cookies at browser close. A cookie seems to be where the previous login information is used to bypass the Captcha. Blocking third party cookies should be enough protection. 

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 19-Mar-2021 | 8:05AM · Permalink

peterweb:

Maybe try not clearing the cookies at browser close. A cookie seems to be where the previous login information is used to bypass the Captcha. Blocking third party cookies should be enough protection. 

Hi peterweb:

No, that didn't work either.  I went to Privacy & Security | History | Clear History When Firefox Closes | Settings... and disabled the option to purge Cookies on exit and also disabled Privacy & Security | Cookies and Site Data | Delete Cookies and Site Data When Firefox is Closed (I have no idea why Firefox needs two settings to control the purging of cookies on exit).   I logged in four times (with a browser close in between, confirming the cookies for norton.com had not been removed) and was still required to use the CAPTCHA every time I logged in.

If I log in to the forum, log out, and then immediately log in again (i.e., on the same browser tab during the same browser session without clearing my cookies) I'm also prompted to use the CAPTCHA each time, so I'm not sure how this could be related to my cookie cleaning.  I even tested by disabling all my browser extensions like Malwarebytes Browser Guard, etc. and leaving  "Remember me on this device" enabled when I logged in so my email address is auto-filled (I normally uncheck this option) and that didn't stop the requirement to complete a CAPTCHA with each login.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v2004 build 19041.804 * Firefox v86.0.1 * Windows Defender v4.18.2102.3

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 19-Mar-2021 | 8:27AM · Permalink

From your image above, uncheck all settings. Restart your computer and test. You will still have to close the browser a few times to see if the login is able to bypass Captcha.  If that works for you, add back one item to be cleared at a time until you find the culprit. 

Have you tried logging in from another browser?

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 19-Mar-2021 | 11:24AM · Permalink

peterweb:

.... Have you tried logging in from another browser?

Hi peterweb:

Yes, as stated <above> "I tried MS Edge (Chromium) today, which I rarely use, and got a CAPTCHA at log in with that browser as well".

...From your image above, uncheck all settings. Restart your computer and test. You will still have to close the browser a few times to see if the login is able to bypass Captcha...

Thanks for your suggestion but I tested (several times, with and without closing and re-opening my browser) with the following and still had to complete a CAPTCHA every time I logged in:

a) Disabled Privacy & Security | Cookies and Site Data | Delete Cookies and Site Data When Firefox is Closed.
b) Disabled all items at Privacy & Security | History | Clear History When Firefox Closes | Settings... as shown below.
c) Disabled Privacy & Security | History | Clear History When Firefox Closes [in addition to disabling each individual item in b)]
e) Disabled all my browser extensions
d) Left "Remember me on this device" enabled when I logged in

I only mentioned the CAPTCHA issue in this thread because I assumed this week's problem with the email notification system and the recent requirement for me to use a CAPTCHA for every forum single logon is connected somehow (e.g., Norton has a self-hosted Microsoft Exchange server that was affected by the vulnerability described in the 10-Mar-20201 BleepingComputer article More Hacking Groups Join Microsoft Exchange Attack Frenzy) but that's just a guess.

If Sunil_GA or one of the other NortonLifeLock employees doesn't have any further suggestions on how I can stop these constant CAPTCHA checks I don't want to waste any more time on this.  The only reason I log in every time I visit the Norton forum is because the information on the CDN caching servers is always 5 to 6 hours out of date (I've complained about this before and nothing is ever done to improve the refresh rate - see my 24-Dec-2019 post <here> for one example).  If the CAPTCHA problem becomes too annoying I'll start a separate topic when I have time to do further testing.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v2004 build 19041.804 * Firefox v86.0.1 * Windows Defender v4.18.2102.4

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 19-Mar-2021 | 2:16PM · Permalink

Other than trying a Firefox refresh, I'm out of ideas. 

Maybe @Sunil_GA can shed more light on what triggers the Captcha.

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 23-Mar-2021 | 7:03AM · Edited: 23-Mar-2021 | 7:04AM · Permalink

I'm happy to report that I'm no longer required to use the CAPTCHA to log in to the Norton forum with either Firefox (my default browser) or MS Edge Chromium. I have no idea if it's something I tweaked on my computer over the weekend or if Norton did something on their end.

I rarely use my MS Edge Chromium browser, but I changed my Edge settings last Friday to clear cookies and other site data when this browser is closed at Settings | Privacy, Search and Services | Clear Browsing Data on Close | Choose What to Clear Every Time You Close The Browser.  However, that didn't seem to help - I continued to get the CAPTCHA when I logged in to the Norton forum from that browser until the problem resolved itself yesterday.

One odd thing I did notice this past weekend, although I'm not sure if it's relevant. I closed my default Firefox browser (which should have cleared my cookies on exit) and immediately ran a custom clean in CCCleaner v5.77 with Firefox cookie cleaning enabled, and CCleaner found four stray cookies - including one for login.norton.com (see image below). I allowed CCleaner to remove those stray four cookies from my Firefox browser but continued to get the CAPTCHA when I logged in to Norton forum, so I don't know why the CAPTCHA suddenly disappeared yesterday in both Firefox and MS Edge Chromium unless it required a few reboots to resolve the problem (just FYI I have the Fast Startup power option disabled in Win 10).

I checked my Firefox settings and confirmed I've never created an exception to retain cookies for norton.com or any other site at Options | Privacy & Security | Cookies and Site Data | Delete Cookies and Site Data When Firefox is Closed | Manage Exceptions, so I'm not sure why those four stray cookies weren't being automatically removed when I closed my Firefox browser. I ran another custom scan with CCleaner today and confirmed that these stray cookies haven't re-appeared since they were removed with CCleaner a few days ago (i.e., closing Firefox is once again removing all cookies when I exit this browser as expected).
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v2004 build 19041.804 * Firefox v86.0.1 * CCleaner Portable v5.77.8521

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 23-Mar-2021 | 7:40AM · Permalink

Glad it is working again. 

AFAIK, the need for a Captcha authentication is stored in a site cookie. So the clearing of the cookie that CCleaner found may have reset a cookie that stored that information. Your first login after clearing that cookie would have required the Captcha. But as long as that cookie was still stored, subsequent logins would bypass the Captcha.   Check with CCleaner again to see if that cookie has been recreated. If it has, do not delete it this time.

Kudos0

Re: Stopped Receving Norton Email Notifications as of 15-Mar-2021

Posted: 23-Mar-2021 | 9:13AM · Permalink

peterweb:

AFAIK, the need for a Captcha authentication is stored in a site cookie. ..Your first login after clearing that cookie would have required the Captcha. But as long as that cookie was still stored, subsequent logins would bypass the Captcha....

Hi peterweb:

That's not what I'm observing.  Since the CAPTCHA disappeared yesterday I've logged in and out of the Norton forum and then closed my Firefox browser (which should clear all my cookies) several times, and CCleaner always confirms there are no stray cookies from login.norton.com or any other sites remaining after Firefox is closed.  If I open my Firefox browser and return to the Norton forum (i.e., after confirming with CCleaner that all my browser cookies have been removed) I am NOT required to use the CAPTCHA to log in.  Does the Norton forum use some sort of flash / zombie cookie that is stored outside the browser (see the article Different Types of Internet Cookies) and remains on the user's device after cookies have been deleted from the browser?

The only time in the past I can recall having to use the CAPTCHA to login was after the Norton forum software was revised and I saw a pop-up asking me to accept the new Terms and Conditions.  Once I accepted the Terms and Conditions I was not required to use the CAPTCHA for subsequent logins.  That's why I assumed that whatever change was made to the Norton email servers / email notification system last week somehow triggered the start of my CAPTCHAs in the first place.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v2004 build 19041.804 * Firefox v86.0.1 * CCleaner Portable v5.77.8521

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