Seeking a solution as Norton Security continues to run at high CPU for several minutes at startup, so this is definitely *not* solved on v.22.19.8.65. The prior threads are below but are closed to new posts, so needed to start this thread to continue.
System:
Laptop running 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium SP1. Every day at or shortly after startup (or sometimes even later), my CPU spikes (50% or higher) with the Windows Task Manager reporting cltRT.exe is the culprit. It's easy to spot as the circular hourglass icon appears in the mouse pointer icon throughout the duration as others have reported. The prior suggested "fix" for Window 8 & 10 is NOT applicable to Windows 7, and so this problem has continued through multiple Norton updates. My system is currently running Norton 22.19.8.65, but the problem began earlier this year with other recent version updates (perhaps around the time I noticed LifeLock in the title) and has continued to persist throughout with no change. Neither this process nor the process tree can be killed in Task Manager, even when logged in as an admin.
Negative Impact:
This is causing significant additional CPU heat and system stress as my laptop's fan immediately kicks in at the highest and loudest speed during the entire episode (also causing additional battery drain) -- plus I'm concerned about what information is being sent back to Norton during this process. It also delays launching programs, etc. I've been using Norton AV/Security products for well over 15 years and am very frustrated that Norton has NOT found a suitable solution for this. I kept hoping a new version would incorporate a fix, but contrary to some posts here, it has not. Would greatly prefer not to have to switch security platforms.
Further Details:
For reference, the earlier detailed thread link is below:
https://community.norton.com/en/forums/dtrtexe-runs-high-cpu-startup
Note that the correct filename is indeed cltRT.exe found in the Norton Security program C:\Program Files (x86)\Norton Security\Engine and C:\Program Files (x86)\Norton Security\Engine32 subdirectories -- I have confirmed this is the actual name appearing in the Task Manager -- appears to be in the 32-bit program dir on a 64-bit system (this laptop was always a 64-bit Windows 7 platform).
The follow-up P.S. forum note marking one of the above posts as a solution is below, but it fails to take into account that the supposed solution does *not* address nor works in Windows 7 (as it apparently relies upon a feature native only to Windows 8 &10):
https://community.norton.com/en/forums/dtrtexe-runs-high-cpu-startup-ps
Could someone please advise whether a fix will be made for this situation? Norton tends to pride itself on using lower system resources, but it appears at some point they introduced a licensing verification module (CLTRT = "Consumer Licensing Technologies" from the file properties and I'm assuming RT means either "real-time" or "remote") for their own benefit that is definitely having a very negative impact on my and others' systems.
[Apologies for the lengthy post, but I figured the context would be helpful. Just to kindly anticipate a likely reply, please, this laptop is not able to be upgraded to Windows 10, as the necessary drivers do not exist for it (or I would have done so already). There are still many Windows 7 users because there is not an upgrade path, so we're stuck with it -- the laptop still works.]
Appreciate any and all help, thanks in advance.
[P.S. My apologies for the duplicate post here, it's my first time posting on the Norton forums. I saw afterward that my first post went under the "Norton Internet Security | Norton 360 | Norton AntiVirus" product category and I'm thinking perhaps it should have gone here under "Norton Security | Norton Security with Backup" -- was wondering why I didn't see it in the forum list after I posted. It's a bit confusing.]
And clicking End Process, this is what I get. NTP is protecting itself.