@ssadars7 - I definitely must have known at one point, because I no longer receive auto-updates or notifications when there is an update... somehow, at some point, I set it up to manual updates only, so every few weeks I check do an update check via the Norton 360 control panel (for lack of a better term re: control panel). I'd actually like to be notified when there's an update (though not auto install). I think I'll have to look into finding that setting again, it's in there somewhere lol - likely under settings, but could also be under updates (from with the Norton program itself).
How do you modify "Software Updater" ?? Is this a part of Norton 360 or another software ??
Now that you mention it, my problem may have started around the time the unwelcome "Software Updater" appeared.
My experience is VPN is working fine then just drops internet connection. I try to refresh browser page or enter a new URL and I get FireFox browser notice that server cannot be reached. The connection may resume after a time (I have auto-connect turned on), or I can turn VPN off and internet is restored. Usually can enable VPN right after.
Norton needs to figure this out and fix it.
And BTW, dump the Software Updater or make it run optionally. Apparently it is running in the background and slowing down my already slow internet connection!
I have uninstalled and reinstalled Norton 360 on my PC 3 times now in the last few weeks. My VPN just stopped connecting and when it doesn't i loose all internet until i uninstall the whole program. It would do that every now an then in the past but it usually did not last. Now it is more off then on. And even when it does work one day the next day it can go right out again. They really need to fix this, i did not have any of these issues when i had Nord VPN and the lifelock is the only reason i have this Norton VPN because i do not want to pay for 2 services when this one should work.
In response to: "Many web sites do not allow access from known VPN IP addresses. They do this for copyright, legal, and political reasons. There is nothing a VPN provider can or should do to circumvent these legal protections."
That isn't at all what's going on. And, I was so happy this morning to finally find others, countless others, who began experiencing the same issue as I am around the same exact time as I did (early March 2022). Norton Secure VPN is literally stopping people from connecting to their browsers, multiple browsers, on MAC and Windows, it's cutting off all Internet connection. And when some of us on rare occasion can connect to our browsers or a site, within minutes it disconnects our connection again. I've been using Norton Secure VPN as part of my yearly paid subscription for Norton 360 since the onset of Secure VPN and it worked on every single site, company, game, banking, Facebook and enumerable others all the time, perfectly, no glitches, until early March 2022 when this problem everyone is reporting in many Norton forums and all over the Net. Your response can't possibly be correct, or that would mean that the infinite number of sites I go to each and every day, and have for years, suddenly "all" stopped allowing a secure VPN? That's not possible - and again, as bad as the complete disconnect from connection on the rare occasion that it allows you to even have a connection, more times than not, it's not even allowing a very large amount of us to have connectivity in our browsers, so that's not even a site - we literally lose connectivity completely when it's on, unable to connect to our browsers, and then the very moment we shut it, poof, we have instant connection to our browsers again.
I do, very much, thank you for trying to help and share information, and I am very thankful for that, and grateful for people who try and share information that could help, genuinely, but I wanted to make it abundantly clear that what you're stating isn't at all what this particular issue is for all of us that are reporting this same issue.
I began having this same exact problem on my windows 10 laptop about a week 1/2 ago. It was working perfect for the past few years and then boom, a week or so ago every single time I turn it on, I have absolutely no connection to the Internet on multiple browsers (I tried multiple browsers). Sometimes, rarely, but sometimes, I do have connection for a minute or 2, but then it cuts it off again. If I shut the secure VPN, I have immediate connection. Last week I had Norton tech support remote into my laptop, he watched me recreate the issue, which of course cut him off, because I lose connection to the Internet, but he was expecting that - I warned him, and then he spent about 15 minutes - 1/2 hour doing a bunch of updates, deletes, reinstalls, etc., and then once we tried it, it worked fine, and I tried various different sites, multiple browsers, multiple sites, etc. But, I knew that on the rare occasion that it does work, it then stops, so I wasn't feeling all that confident. Within minutes of leaving the remote session, the issue started again. My ISP tech support laughed at the thought of it being on their end, since I have immediate connection (and super fast) without Norton Secure VPN turned on, and my ISP allows 3rd party VPN services, including Norton, nothing changed on their end. It's 100% a Norton issue. I was thinking it might be a Windows 10 issue, since I recently had an update - update 2 billion lol, but since there are Mac users experiencing the same issue, then there's no denying that it's a Norton issue.
I'm not happy. I don't like being followed around the Net, I don't like my ISP or DNS showing up on game sites, which they do, so that means they're showing on financial sites and other sites I go to, and I need the Secure VPN service. Additionally, in closing, I pay for a yearly subscription to Norton 360, this is a part of the plan I pay for, which means that something I'm paying for isn't working... and Norton isn't acknowledging this issue at all, and what you don't acknowledge, you don't fix.
Thank you so much for opening this thread, I thought I was losing my mind, I couldn't find anyone else having the issue in the current time, only much older threads. I'm not at all happy that others are experiencing this as well, but I am happy that it's not just me... because now I know it's not my laptop and nothing to do with me on my end. Here's hoping that Norton acknowledges and fixes this sometime soon. My renewal is in a few months and if they don't fix it, while I do love Norton over nearly all others, I won't be renewing if this part of my purchase isn't working anymore, which currently it is not - I have to go online with it shut all day, every day, or I can't get online at all... or I can for a second and then BOOM lost connection until I shut it.
Norton Tech Support - we're calling for you, and whatever you think might fix it (as the tech did when remoted into my laptop) is not the fix, there's a bug in the programming that needs to be fixed.
I'm having the same issue, which appeared with the last update - the one that saddled us with the piece of dysfunctional nastiness known as Software Updater, so is wrong on all fronts. Prior to that, it was working for me just fine. Of the websites I visit regularly, only one did not function through the VPN; the others worked as normal through it.
Now, I'm lucky if I can get anywhere on the internet without disabling it. It crashes several times a day, or at least inexplicably disables itself - I see a pop-up telling me so. It then automatically restarts - maybe 15 or 20 minutes later. If I turn it off manually (to access the aforementioned website), it takes me at least that long, and usually several retries, before it can manage to lumber back into the air. Prior to the last update, it did not crash and to restart it after I'd manually disabled it took maybe 1 minute.
Over the last few days, the problem has gotten even worse. The VPN comes on at startup, the pop-up on the WiFi icon says I have internet access through it, but I can't reach *any* websites at all. Meanwhile, all other devices on our WiFi are working as normal. If I disable the VPN and start up a browser, everything starts to work immediately. After that, I can usually restart the VPN and all will behave as normal, but I'm quickly losing faith in it.
Many web sites do not allow access from known VPN IP addresses. They do this for copyright, legal, and political reasons. There is nothing a VPN provider can or should do to circumvent these legal protections.