It is not a Windows Cumulative Update issue. It is not resolved by restarting computer. It is resolved by disabling/uninstalling Norton 360. Please see screen shots.
Hi TJWIN7User, yeah so far so good. My computer still has version 22.22.2.10 NORTON 360. I left automatic updates on because I believe turning it off would not keep virus definitions up to date. Kind of a catch-22. Updates off means diminishing virus protection. Updates on risks getting clobbered by crappy version 22.22.3.9 getting installed. Hopefully Norton will fix the problem before that big update occurs.
Just curious of those here that performed a total uninstall of NORTON 360, reinstalled to version 22.22.2.10 and returned soon thereafter to most recent version 22.22.3.9 - did anyone at all ever see a re-occurrence of the CPU spike/3rd task spawning/log file writing since then in any way-shape-form? I have disabled AUTOMATIC UPDATES for the time being so I can continue working uninterrupted until I can get to a drive image backup of this configuration with v22.22.2.10 and then will resume download of updates. Since there hasn't been any recent activity on this thread, then I'm taking it that 'no news is good news'…problem has been resolved at everyone’s satisfaction?
Thanks for the feedback TJWIN7User. Norton customer support totally sucks and seems oblivious to this issue.
Ran the NRnR tool to remove NORTON 360 version 22.22.3.9 and then did a fresh reinstall. Now have NORTON 360 older version 22.22.2.10 and so far it looks OK. But since Norton updates itself regularly I'm wondering how long this bliss will last before that newer crappy version 22.22.3.9 gets loaded back onto my computer.
I've been running my fresh install of NORTON 360 since 3:30pm today and no occurrence of the CPU spikes/disk activity. That has been the longest length of time not having that behavior since this 1st appeared on 4/13/2022. Even the stop-gap measures I tried based from others suggestions here only got my about 1/2 hour of bliss before it started all over again. I felt an uninstall/reinstall was the best option by this time as I was running out of patience. Of course I created a backup image of my hard drive before doing it so I wouldn't create further probs in case it didn't work out. Now I'm just in 'wait and see' mode' moving forward.
Problem seemed to go away yesterday but now it's back.
Just checked my Norton version and it's already 22.22.3.9 so I've not done an uninstall/reinstall yet. High disk activity appeared around 4/13/2022 and then seemed to magically fix itself on 4/15/2022 mid-morning. But the problem is back again today. The chronology and current symptoms are well described by other folks on the Norton forum linked below...
I couldn't wait any longer as nothing changed at all for me since the 'fix' was announced yesterday (4/16). Whatever was supposed to come down the pipe or connect in the background was not happening for me - so this afternoon I did a complete uninstall (remove all user data) from Control Panel followed by running Norton Remove and Reinstall tool followed by a total fresh reinstall of 360. I'm now sitting at version 22.22.2.10 and no CPU spiking/process respawn & terminate quickly any longer...so pleased right now. I know this isn't at the most recent 360 version (the one released earlier this month), but I'll leave it as is for the present. Whenever it decides to upgrade to latest, maybe by then it will have the fix/patch in place. Also as well, my Norton installation has been in place since 2013, so I figure a clean sweep wouldn't hurt as it has gone thru all these product updates/upgrades over time and accumulated tons of stuff. I'm keeping my fingers crossed going forward. I'll just let this be as is and keep close tabs on it. Will post updates as warranted. Have a good holiday.
I just tried the suggestion above from xjoex, and after 1 hour on 2 different machines, it's still working as it should. Yesterday I had tried uninstalling through Control Panel, and then reinstalling, but the problem persisted. This time I used Revo. Unfortunately, Revo launches Norton to uninstall it, and then when it is complete, Norton insists you must restart. The problem with that is that you don't get to use the next part of Revo, which searches for all the left overs. When I restarted, I checked Revo again and Norton was no longer an option. So I checked ccleaner, and it was still an option, so I did it again through there, which only took about 2 seconds. I then restarted again and it seems to be fine so far. I even downloaded a file and ran a live update to "wake up" Norton, and it went back to normal as should after it did it's thing. No idea if it will last, but so far, so good. It used to start acting up within minutes, so getting to an hour+ is an improvement. But I won't be surprised if it starts again.....
When you run the uninstall tool and do a remove only there are still vestiges of Norton left on your machine.
You can use a 3rd party tool like CCleaner or Revo Uninstaller to clean up leftover registry entries, scheduled tasks, context menu items, files and icons. I found installation files and many other entries left over after my "remove only" so after I really removed everything I did another restart and the finally reinstalled Norton 360 clean.
Uninstall and reinstall per below fixed the CPU racing and disk activity issue for me.
From admin account uninstalled Norton 360 using Norton Remove and Reinstall tool (https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/v60392881) selecting Advanced Options and then click Remove Only. Restart computer and allow Windows Security to reestablish Microsoft Defender as default anti-virus. Restart computer and go to My Norton Account (https://my.norton.com/extspa/account/subscriptions) and click Download and then follow along to download/install latest version Norton 360 v22.22.3.9.