Intermittent Issue: NortonSvc.exe uses 50% of CPU, AND CAN'T OPEN NORTON UI

Norton 360 for Windows
1

This is an odd issue that happened 6 days ago, and I thought it was a one-off. But now just happened again:

I start up the pc and soon notice that the fan is blowing nonstop. I find that NortonSvc.exe is using 50% of CPU. BTW, that’s only visible in Task Manager after I click “Show processes from All Users” in the bottom left.

What makes it even more concerning is that I can’t open the Norton UI while this is happening (to see if it provides any clues), nor is the context menu available, or the “You Are protected” message when hovering on the icon. IOW, the icon is fully non-responsive while this is happening.

Simply restarting the pc resolves the issue, but the fact that it’s apparently recurring makes it more troubling.

Any ideas? Thanks.

2

I had the same issue that started a week or so ago. The only thing that worked for me was a remove/reinstall. So far the reinstall has fixed my cpu, UI, and live update issues that slowly began to compound. All of this seemed to happen after the 25.6.10221 update.

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3

Sounds like a promising idea, but if the issue can recur in the vicinity of 6 days, a week seems to soon to conclude it’s solved. Or were you having it more frequently? Also, if “slowly compound” means over the course of a week, that doesn’t sound like what I’m experiencing. Everything was fine after a restart until today – six days later --when the issue came back. Again, after a restart, everything is working fine again – for now.

4

Same here with my 3 devices. Only a reinstall helps for about 2-3 days. Then this problem comes back. All happens for the first time after the last update.

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I’m only 4 days in to my reinstall, so I agree that the issues may come back. I initially saw the random cpu spikes and UI issues. After a few days my live update began locking my computer along with spinning circles on the UI … along with the random cpu spikes. So far all issues have been resolved, but they could come back in a few days. Especially if it related to some hidden scheduled task that came along with the last update. I may not see it again until it kicks in within a week

6

Thanks for the update. So it sounds as if one definite difference between our situations is that you were at least able to open the UI. As I mentioned, I’m unable to open it when the problem is occurring.

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I am having a similar issue, but my Norton is using 100% of my CPU. If I power it off for the night and then turn it back on, still running at 100%. I cannot uninstall, I have been trying for the last 8 hours and nothing is happening. Cannot use my laptop at all. Cannot even get anyone from Norton, the auto AI can’t help and when I try to use the chat with a live agent or phone, nothing happens.

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@David_Ohrberg @Ardmore @bibbes

Have you booted your computer into safe mode and attempted to remove Norton, reboot and reinstall Norton? Norton will NOT load in safe mode.

SA

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My particular situation, as described in the original post, isn’t necessarily worth an uninstall/reinstall yet. I like keeping my settings and history intact, if possible.

My intent was to see if anyone else is experiencing the same thing and has identified, or suspects, a particular culprit – say a particular setting or feature, or maybe certain files lingering from an old Norton installation that need to be deleted. But should it get worse (symptoms or frequency) like in @David_Ohrberg’s case, the safe mode uninstall/reboot/reinstall certainly sounds like a logical next step.

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