Norton Secure VPN Running Down Battery On MacBook Pro

Archive
1

I am running Norton 360 8.6.6 Build 2 on a 2020 13" MacBook Pro running macOS Big Sur 11.5.2 and on a recent trip, my battery life was reduced to a bit more than 2 hours (normally more than 6 hours) while watching movies on the plane.  This happened on two separate days, and I had taken pains to ensure the laptop was set for maximum battery life and it was charged to 100% prior to boarding. 

I always turn off wireless when on the plane, so there was no connection possible, but when I checked in the CPU Tab of Activity Monitor, trying to figure out what was using the most resources, Norton Secure VPN was at the top of the list at more than 100% CPU usage, and using 41 threads no less!  I see no way to turn this thing off or remove it, and I don't have a discrete application file to remove (assume it's just part of Norton 360's application?).

In the Norton Control Panel, it is NOT turned on or connected, yet it's still running.  My Battery Monitor listed it only as consuming a larger than normal amount of power.  I also found that it was in listed in my Users & Groups/Login Items as opening automatically at startup, and I removed it prior to boarding the plane...however the process still was running.

How can I fully remove/turn off/stop this thing from running, since I will never use it, and I need my battery life back!

Thanks!

2

I guess until Norton fixes it, we can use Gatekeeper to deny it from loading.

3

Norton, how can I permanently disable and prevent this process from running?

Thanks!

4

Same problem here.  "Norton Secure VPN" randomly runs at 100% (and until I kill it).  I have never used it on this installation.  I stopped using Norton for a. year because of this issue and thought I'd try it again as surely this would be fixed by now.  Nope..  Granted I have a whole bunch of cores and threads and barely dents anything as you can see from the screenshot, but it does kill battery and makes the fan spin out of control.