IIRC - https://my.norton.com/extspa/account/privacyoptions
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@bjm Thanks for the heads up. That was a fast turnaround. Without going into any personal details, did you see anything in the collected data that raised red flags?
Hello again @Puzzler
No…same as last time.
File-1 is License Data
File-2 is personal info that I supplied for payment…e.g., email/name/address & for Dark Web Monitoring.
Note: after payment. I unsubscribe & remove payment profile & I recognize Dark Web Monitoring info because it’s faux info.
I don’t create programs/write code.
I visit sites & download files that users report as blocked.
I test malicious URLs that are being used for malware distribution over on URLhaus.
Nothing for Norton to be curious about.
@bjm Good to know. Thanks.
Not sure but I think I read on a different thread that you’re taking Bitdefender out for a spin? I’d be curious to get your feedback on its features and UI at some point. Bitdefender, Norton and Kaspersky always seem to be rated highly. Of course Kaspersky is no longer available here. I’m trying to be patient with Norton but whether I stick with it depends on how responsive they are to users’ concerns.
@kmp You’re prudent. There are too many malwares around that infect computers without leaving easily detectable traces. Best practices call for the extra layer of protection like what you’ve implemented. I keep my sensitive documents off line as well, on an encrypted external hard drive. The weak link is the solid state drive inside the computer. Unlike old mechanical drives, SSDs are impossible to wipe reliably and some have had security flaws in their firmware (e.g. Crucial’s data leakage via buffer overflow). And of course Windows and different apps leave traces all over the place, not to mention misguided tools like Windows AI Recall (from Google AI Overview):
The main controversy surrounding Windows AI Copilot, also known as “Microsoft Copilot,” centers around its potential for privacy violations due to its ability to access and analyze a vast amount of user data across Microsoft 365 applications, particularly with the “Recall” feature which essentially takes screenshots of a user’s activity on their computer, raising concerns about how this data is stored and accessed; this has led to criticism regarding user privacy and potential security risks, prompting Microsoft to make significant changes to the feature, including making it opt-in and adding enhanced security measures.
Just have to do the best we can and hope for the best.
Well I’ve received my request for my data.
Despite Norton taking a number of executable files from several of my PCs there is no reference to them in the report which is basically two files containing just a list of license, machine and user details.
As an aside removing Norton from key PCs is proving entertaining. I’ve already had to do a full partition restore on one where the resulting mess was worse than restoring an earlier version and just disabling as much of Norton processes that leave the PCs running.
I will consider other products but with v24 it seems Norton has really over stepped the mark for intrusiveness and insufficient options to control it. It even tried to block Directory Opus today just looking at the directories of an the custom Chromium based browser I wrote for personal use as well as the scripts I have that also access that area.
@kmp Yikes. No one enjoys that kind of entertainment!
Totally agree. Question is whether Norton will retool V24 and, if so, how long it will take. I’ve started looking at other products. At this point I’m even considering just using Windows resident protection.
Having used Norton for 25 years, I’ve noticed a definite shift in corporate culture the past few years. Example: crypto mining nonsense a couple years back. I get that software developers need to capitalize on their products so shrink-flation (removing features and selling it as a separate app, e.g. anti tracking cookies) is understandable. But Norton seems to be getting pretty aggressive marketing its products and playing on people’s anxiety.