@SoulAsylum Has Norton 360 updated to v26.5.20995 on your system yet? I received this update yesterday (June 2). The “model_host.exe” file is dated June 2, 2026 after the update. I have no way of checking to see if that file was present before the update. All I know is that prior to the update, Norton 360 was reporting GPU usage for “nortonui.exe”. After the update, GPU usage is being reported for “model_host.exe” instead.
Next PVR does not task the GPU when running as a background service/process. The screenshot I provided previously shows there is zero percent GPU usage for the Next PVR processes. Next PVR does use the GPU when recording OTA content. But that was not happening at the time of the screenshot.
I am also aware that Edge and other processes use the GPU. But Edge usage is only 0.1% unless I’m watching a video on YouTube. The only other processes that use the GPU (according to task manager) are the Desktop Window Manager and Windows Explorer. But usage for those processes is only .5-1% when sitting on my Edge home page. Usage by Norton 360 exceeds both of those when Edge is Active.
As for your assertion that the 1-2% GPU usage by Norton 360 “… alone isn’t enough to force hardware to make itself spike to the point a system runs hot”, it does appear to be on my system. The GPU in my system typically ran at 37-39degrees Celsius when using Edge prior to the update from Norton at the beginning of May. My fan profile is set to start ramping up the fans when temperature exceeds 40degrees Celsius. The 1-2% added load from Norton seems to be enough for that to happen. If I temporarily disable Norton antivirus, temperatures remain below 40 degrees Celsius when Edge is active. As soon as I enable it again, temperatures exceed that threshold and the fans ramp up.
I fully understand that other processes (and Microsoft AI) use the GPU. That is not the issue here. The issue as I see it is that for some reason Norton 360 is now using the GPU (whether it is Nortonui.exe or model_host.exe) when there is no reason for it to be doing so. Is it because of new AI features that have been baked in to the latest versions of the Norton 360 software?
Having just ran live updates manually my installed version of Norton 360 remains 26.5.10994 (build 26.5.10994.984). Version 26.5.20995 isn’t being offered at this time my side. I’m in the USA, East Coast time. What is your geo-location?
Crap! That was a typo on my part. The update I received yesterday was v26.5.10994 (build 26.5.10994.984) (not v26.5.20995). Sorry for the confusion.
So I’m on the same version as you. That is weird that I have a “model_host.exe” file, and you do not. I’m going to uninstall and reinstall tomorrow to see if that changes anything. My subscription expires at midnight, so this seems like the right time to do so before entering the new license key I purchased at Best Buy at 50% of the price Norton was offering me in-software to continue my subscription.
@SoulAsylum As of this morning, “model_host.exe” is no longer using the GPU when Edge is active. I did find a post in the NortonAntiVirus subreddit from four days ago where another user states that “model_host.exe” uses the GPU on their system after the update at the end of May. So at least I know I wasn’t the only one seeing this behavior.
Thanks for your help! I’ll post back if anything changes.
Curious, did you use new your Best Buy key?
Do you still find “model_host.exe”?
What if any other Norton?
Note: I don’t find “model_host.exe” at Norton\Suite\
@Darrell_Wunder Thanks for the post-back and good news. I’m glad we could help in some way. Please post back again if this reappears, we can follow-up again.
Model_host.exe disappeared running on the GPU for me too, probably the last update fixed that? Nortonui.exe is still running on the gpu, but the devicemanager disable/reactivate helps for now.
jeg tror de fixer den fejl nu da jeg kan se de ikke har opdateret i over 3 dage så jeg tror de har snart en miner klar til norton 360 der fixer gpu og cpu det er min ide jeg tror senest søndag så er den ude grunden til den ikke kommer før er at de smider flere fejl i på en gang jeg tror de fixer både cpu og gpu plus nogle andre fejl som de fandt her og der det er derfor det bliver en miner og ikke en hotfix jeg tror de tar alt det de kan finde
I did a few hours ago. The “model_host.exe” file was indeed located in the “C:\Program Files\Norton\Suite\” folder after reinstalling Norton 360 with the new key.
I did contact Norton support team. And they said, “The new update from Norton uses GPU to accelerate virus scans.”
I think this is totally dumb and no antivirus should ever use GPU for these tasks. It just means the software is not properly optimized if it needs dedicated GPU to do such regular tasks.
The main issue is with laptops because on battery power this unwanted “feature” causes huge battery drain. nortonui.exe constantly uses dedicated Nvidia GPU and there is no way to shift it to Intel iGPU (tried all methods…doesn’t work). They don’t want us tech-savvy users to change this behavior.
I have mentioned this to the support team and they said this may be fixed in next update but “no specific timeline”.
Which “intelligent” person or team at Norton thought that using dedicated GPU would be a great idea…I would like to meet him or her.
Please test the updates on laptops as well.
And please don’t utilize dedicated GPUs at all…today’s CPUs are powerful enough to handle all types of virus scans.
Like many of us, I am also hoping to receive an update soon that reverts back to original behavior like it was a few months ago.
Let’s hope for the best!
I think the support person who states model host in the new version utilizes GPU’s for viral detections needs training. Neither do I see model host nor any GPU activity by Norton 360 on any of my machines, both Windows 10 & 11. Current installed version is 26.5.10994 (build 26.5.10994.984),
Are you using a PC or laptop? The issue is more noticeable on laptops because it drains battery (when not on AC power).
If you check Task Manager, after every 3-4 seconds, the GPU % spikes a bit and power usage keeps going to ‘very high’ for one of the Norton Antivirus processes (this must be the model_host process that they introduced). And this causes a significant impact especially on laptops when on battery power.
According to what I read model_host.exe only runs on systems that have a GPU that is AI capable. So it would appear that while some users don’t see this and others do is hardware specific.
AI Overview
model_host.exe is a legitimate background process associated with Norton 360. It acts as a modular host for various machine learning and artificial intelligence tasks that Norton uses to detect new and emerging threats, as well as handle certain system-level services for its user interface. [1, 2]
Ok.
But we really don’t need antivirus softwares to use GPU power for anything (even AI features) all the time. It is draining battery on laptops like crazy and using resources continuously.
The latest update 26.6.11050 does not fix this issue.
I request Norton team to take this seriously and revert back to how it was a few months ago.
FWIW!! I have the latest version installed, Norton 360 Deluxe: Version 26.6.11050 (build 26.6.11050.0). The model_host.exe file is still NOT present on any of my machines as of this post. I DO agree % that no software should look for and use an AI capable GPU to feed AI or any other processes in that regard.
Conversely, Microsoft is now also using LLP profile, microbursts of CPU’s to boost performance on Windows 11 25H2 installs. So from my perspective this is a two pronged issue on the part of your OS and Norton.
AI Overview
[image]
Microsoft uses a “Low Latency Profile” (LLP) to drastically increase Windows 11 performance. The operating system momentarily locks the processor at its maximum clock speed for 1-to-3 seconds when initiating high-priority tasks, like launching apps, opening the Start menu, or interacting with settings. [1, 2, 3, 4]
This CPU trick—which is widely used across other modern operating systems like macOS and Linux—yields significant hardware and responsiveness gains: [1, 2, 3]
App Launch Speeds: Can increase by up to 40%.
General Windows Responsiveness: Speeds up core shell actions (Start menu, Search, Action Center) by up to 70%.
System Smoothing: Effectively eliminates UI stutter, noticeably improving the user experience on budget and mid-tier PCs. [1, 2, 3]
While highly effective, keeping the processor primed for short bursts can result in a slight increase in CPU temperature and a mild decrease in battery life for laptops. [1, 2]
I have four instances of NortonUI.exe running in “background processes” are in task manager on all my machines. This is normal not something that isn’t to be expected. You will see them even with zero activity on the machine at idle.
Conversely, when the Norton UI is actually opened I get five additional instances of Norton UI running in the “Apps” area of task manager. Again this is normal.
Apologies for so late response. I doubt your observations of nortonui.exe running in task manager being normal are relevant to this thread. Yes, it’s normal, but it is not indicating the usage of dGPU in task manager, and as far as I know people here are complaining about this program showing up in NVIDIA GPU usage taskbar icon and actually using the dGPU, resulting in laptop battery drain. It was pointed out several times here, and no, it is absolutely not normal. For some reason, Norton hides the usage of dGPU, so it looks like it is not using dGPU in task manager. Again, only NVIDIA taskbar icon shows what is actually going on there. Only display adapter reset stops running it on dGPU, thus reducing battery usage, and not affecting any Nortonui.exe instances in task manager. Do you have NVIDIA RTX GPU on any of your machines so you could check if it is using dGPU there (showing up in that taskbar icon)? This thread looks dead, it seems people have lost any hope this issue can be fixed. There was an update today, no fix again. With the help of AI I created a small .bat file to reset the display adapter. It starts with one click at desktop shortcut, no need to go to device manager. That’s probably it; we have to live with it or get rid of Norton. I’m leaning to the latter, and probably will not renew my subscription, because honestly Norton is not usable at least on laptops because of this issue. Interestingly, the same problem was reported with Avast antivirus with avastui.exe running on dGPU (perhaps not too surprisingly, since Avast is made by the same company as Norton).
