I have been noticing increasing problems over the past few weeks with Norton Secure VPN. I routinely turn it on and leave it on all of the time. What I see is that I have problems connecting to sites (just now, couldn't connect to Google Maps). I turn the VPN off and boom!, I can connect. I have also noticed that my internet connection will drop when I have the VPN on and have lots of browser tabs open . . . My browser is Google Chrome, Version 99.0.4844.51 - Norton Password Manager is also hard to start with VPN on.
Anybody else experiencing these problems ??
I am running a Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H2, 64-bit PC; Norton 360 22.22.2.10;
I start each day by running Live Updates and Quick Scan
Despite not being able to use VPN on all websites, particularly with banking sites or sites where I must use password/ID credentials, I make sure I use the browsers' InPrivate browsing window for that extra measure of security, - even with HTTPS sites. I have set up 2-step verification, etc., on all my apps, banking sites and elsewhere wherever offered with strong passwords 19-30+ characters long, although some marginal sites only allow much shorter passwords; even my phone & device passcodes are longer than 6 characters to backup fingerprint IDs.
I prefer this more tedious 'protocol' within Norton's VPN still, but lacking VPN's functioning on every website, the extra security, I hope & think, is safer that not using one or the others. Lord willing, my devices will continue to be safe with Norton's help as they have been for the past several decades. (Do wish it was all at more reasonable cost, but at least my bank just lowered & dropped fees today!!!)
Best of wishes for continued security on your devices, and God bless.
So pleasedto see this thread!! I have the same problem - almost impossible to browse with VPN connected - all sorts of websites closed to me until I disable VPN. I bought Norton 360 primarily for the VPN -- for online shopping & banking -- so utterly useless if I can't access my sites using the VPN!! I use safesearch but have never been offered the Isolation Mode. I find Norton 360 to be very USA centric so as a UK user that's very frustratting too and many UK banks not recognised. Can we have a solution please?! My subscription ends March 2023 and I'll probably be looking elsewhere for my next security suite.
There might be a way, if Norton tool programmers were inclined, to provide a "pop up message" that Norton VPN will not function with given WEB site and recommend to turn it off or automatically turn it off when it encounters problems?
Try dumping Norton VPN for Express VPN. I did and it just works. Maintains connection speed (may be slightly degraded, but not much). But no reboot - uninstall - reinstall - chat- etc., etc. every few days or weeks - only to have the problems resurface and having to do this all over again. In my experience these VPN issues have been present since the first launch of the product - and Norton refuses to do anything to fix it. If one peruses the community threads regarding VPN issues, most are marked "Still in need of a solution" but then have been closed from posting additional comment.
I do not think this provides an insight into the problem, the initial problem is similar to what I have and is not regarding sites with https or security problems, the problem is that the vpn is blocking access to sites via google searches. Taking into account chrome and google are the main web browser and search engines used across the world, if the vpn is blocked by these sites as you suggest then vpns by all the companies out there would be a waste of time as nobody in the world would be able to access sites via google that would make a vpn pretty useless. Plus sometimes I can access the sites directly and the vpn doesn't block access then.
I prefer Norton which has been my preference since the 80s, and 360 to other virus/firewalls and prefer to have one package I can trust rather than having numerous security programs, so I bought Norton again on renewal last year, and the fact it had the vpn built into was great and a big factor in that choice, having used Macafee for a few years along with surf shark.
The last thing, if as I suggest google blocked VPNs such as Norton I would have expected this thread to have 1000s of similar complaints and the lack of this indicates this is a lesser problem limited to some users and it needs some clarification and consideration for the few of us that seem to be having problems so that we too can remain secure. Poss it is some extension in chrome causing a problem and would anybody have knowledge on this. Thanks.
I have been having similar problems it’s not that I can’t connect to a website rather the speed of connecting that is my issue.
I have run the broadband speedtest with VPN off and I get around 200 mbs download and 100 mbs upload, when I turn VPN on my speeds drop as low as 1.5 mbs download and .5 mbs upload.
I also tried the same thing on my cell phone on 4G and without VPN on I got around 36mbs download and 12mbs upload, but with VPN ON dropped to 1.5 and .5 again.
Got my workmate to do the same on his cell phone and same results so there is definitely a huge bottleneck within Norton’s VPN software that causes dramatic data transfer rate drop offs.
I have also experienced similar problems and I too have shut off auto select and just have one region for the VPN to connect. So far it seems to be working. It might be that auto select keeps searching for and changing servers and maybe that is what causes some of these issues.
Not sure yet this will help in all cases, but it may be of help in the interim.
I have also noted this problem in Win11 Home on a 2021 Dell 15 5505 AMDRyzen7 laptop. It has persisted (also I think since software updater) but is seems to persist on only some of Norton's Servers and not all of them. I say this because I began to log IP addresses for which I could not access the internet with MS Edge or MS Outlook Live mail, etc.
Whenever I could not access, I began simply to turn off Norton VPN on My Norton, & then turn it back on, which then logged me back unto another Norton secure server in the same default region. I have stayed with this region for the most part, although initially I had allowed Norton 360 to auto-select the region; I don't know this will work in all selected regions.
Simply switching out from one secure server to another in the same region seems to solve the problem, although I dislike even a few seconds of unsecured internet while it is off. I have not yet run into not being able to connect & browse websites twice in a row, but I suspect it is possible and I will likely experience it someday until this issue is fixed.
This problem has always been and remains on Norton's end. I have to turn it off when I go to a secure site to pay a bill like my cable bill or phone bill or some banks. that's exactly when I would want the VPN to be functioning. It seems to have gotten worse lately since Windows 11. Sometimes it's interfering with my DNS server and I have to restart my computer to connect to any site. NORTON FIX THIS!! How many people have to post about this? You're going to lose customers eventually.
i'd like to chime in with the same problems with VPN... i'd like to add that it gets turned off without me knowing it. i have to check from time to time. i use windows 10 on 1 laptop and 11 on another.
I have the same issue. When I turn on the Norton VPN I am not able to browse any of the sights that were my home pages. I have used the Norton VPN for a couple of years and have never had this problem. I bought a subscription to ExpressVPN and it works fine with the sites i have as home pages. This started happening when Norton released the last version with the damn software updater crap. I am disappointed that my Norton 360 annual subscription just renewed right before the latest update. Thats the last payment Norton will get from me.
On the lower right of the Norton 360 Panel there is a link that says: "My Norton"
Click on this and open "My Norton"
Four down from the top is "Secure VPN". You can turn it on and off here. If I shut down my PC with VPN Off, when I start up the next morning, VPN is still off (and vice versa)
I'm having the same issue with the secure VPN. I keep losing my internet connection and I've had enough. I want to turn the VPN off permanently but if I select Turn Off, it keeps coming back again the next day. Can anyone tell me how to disable it permanently?
I have the same problem. It started a couple of weeks ago. Microsoft Teams gets disconnected, and Skype, Outlook and others. If I turn VPN off and back on again, everything goes back to normal. Running Windows 10 Home 2022-03 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 21H2 for X64-based Systems (KB5011487) installed.
I have the same problem. There are many similar threads about the same issue. Norton need to do something. Otherwise people are going to look at competitor products.
I wonder if the programming bug is related to the "kill switch" function, which is supposed to block internet access if the VPN goes down? I have mine turned off in the configuration settings, but if it's screwed up internally so that it is hard set to "on", and combined with whatever bug is causing the VPN to crash all the time, it would explain the behavior. (Makes one wonder if anything in this release - 22.22.1.58 in my case - is actually working.... Isn't that a reassuring thought?)
Interesting thought about the Kill Switch. But that would mean that all those seeing this issue were having their internet connection dropping out. That would be a huge coincidence for users in different parts of the world see this happening fairly often.
I wonder if the programming bug is related to the "kill switch" function, which is supposed to block internet access if the VPN goes down? I have mine turned off in the configuration settings, but if it's screwed up internally so that it is hard set to "on", and combined with whatever bug is causing the VPN to crash all the time, it would explain the behavior. (Makes one wonder if anything in this release - 22.22.1.58 in my case - is actually working.... Isn't that a reassuring thought?)
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