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Issue abstract: Microsoft OneDrive behaves oddly with Norton 360 installed.
Detailed description: I have thousands of pictures stored on OneDrive, and due to the size I keep the files online and do not download them unless required. Since loading Norton 30, whenever I go into Finder and look at a directory, all of the files in that directory start downloading locally, and previews do not appear until the file has downloaded. This means for directory with 1200 raw photos, it can take over 30 minutes before I can see them all. 30 minutes is also exceptionally long for the download. I have disabled the firewall in an attempt to resolve this, however I have had no luck. If anyone has any idea how to resolve this it would be greatly appreciated.
Product & version number: Norton 360 Deluxe (Latest as of May 8, 2026)
OS details: MacOS 26.4.1
What is the error message you are seeing? No error message, just poor performance.
If you have any supporting screenshots, please add them:
Allan_I_Thomson:
Issue abstract: Microsoft OneDrive behaves oddly with Norton 360 installed.
Detailed description: I have thousands of pictures stored on OneDrive, and due to the size I keep the files online and do not download them unless required. Since loading Norton 30, whenever I go into Finder and look at a directory, all of the files in that directory start downloading locally, and previews do not appear until the file has downloaded. This means for directory with 1200 raw photos, it can take over 30 minutes before I can see them all. 30 minutes is also exceptionally long for the download. I have disabled the firewall in an attempt to resolve this, however I have had no luck. If anyone has any idea how to resolve this it would be greatly appreciated.
Product & version number: Norton 360 Deluxe (Latest as of May 8, 2026)
OS details: MacOS 26.4.1
Hello @Allan_I_Thomson
macOS 26.x
Safari 26.x
Norton 360 26.4
This may not actually be the firewall itself. What you’re describing sounds more like an interaction between Finder preview generation, OneDrive Files On-Demand hydration, and Norton’s real-time scanning.
A few things you could test:
• In Finder, switch the folder to List View and disable the Preview Pane.
• Temporarily disable Norton Auto-Protect briefly for testing.
• Test with a much smaller RAW photo folder.
• Check whether the issue began specifically after updating to Norton 360 for Mac v26.4.
• See whether excluding the OneDrive sync/cache location from Norton scans changes the behavior.
The long delay may be because each hydrated RAW file is being scanned as it downloads from OneDrive.
The photos are not truly “on the computer.”
They are more like:
shortcuts/placeholders with metadata.
Then:
Finder opens the folder.
Finder wants thumbnails/previews for the RAW photos.
To build previews, macOS needs actual image data.
Microsoft OneDrive starts downloading (“hydrating”) the real files.
Norton 360 may then inspect each downloaded file.
1200 RAW photos later… everything crawls.
So the user is probably observing:
“I merely opened a folder and suddenly everything downloads.”
Which feels wrong from the user perspective.
But technically the OS may be doing:
“You asked for previews, therefore I need the actual image contents.”
That is why switching to List View or disabling previews can matter:
filenames do not require hydration,
thumbnails often do.
Finder has multiple viewing modes, similar to File Explorer on Windows.
The important ones here are:
List View
mostly filenames/details
less thumbnail-heavy
less likely to aggressively trigger image preview generation
Icon View / Gallery View
shows large thumbnails/previews
more likely to request actual image contents
more likely to trigger OneDrive hydration for RAW photos
Finder also has a:
Preview Pane
similar to Windows File Explorer’s Preview Pane
selecting a file can generate a large preview
So the troubleshooting idea was basically:
reduce preview/thumbnails so Finder stops demanding full RAW image data from OneDrive.
User is likely opening a OneDrive folder in Finder and seeing something like:
blank/generic RAW image icons at first,
then spinning download indicators or cloud icons,
then thumbnails slowly appearing one-by-one as files download locally.
If Finder is in:
Icon View,
Gallery View,
or using a Preview Pane,
then macOS may attempt to generate previews for 1200 RAW photos in the folder.
But in List View, Finder may only need:
filenames,
dates,
sizes,
metadata.
That can reduce or avoid the need to fully hydrate every cloud-only RAW file.
So the troubleshooting suggestion was essentially:
“Can we stop Finder from asking OneDrive for actual image data?”
1200 cloud-only RAW images helps explain why:
the delay is so noticeable,
the downloads appear endless,
and why the user perceives something abnormal.
Because RAW photos are often large files, Finder potentially trying to:
inspect,
preview,
thumbnail,
or index
1200 cloud-only RAW images could generate:
massive OneDrive hydration activity,
followed by substantial Norton 360 scanning overhead.
So the user is not describing:
“one photo downloads when opened.”
They are describing something more like:
“I open a folder and suddenly the system begins processing 1200 large cloud-stored RAW files.”
That scale makes the complaint easier to understand.
In Finder, switch the folder to List View and disable the Preview Pane. This is one reasonable troubleshooting step because it tests the theory that:
Finder preview/thumbnail generation
Microsoft OneDrive hydration
Norton 360 real-time scanning.
The idea is not:
“List View permanently fixes everything.”
The idea is:
“Does reducing previews stop the mass downloading behavior?”
If the answer is yes, then:
thumbnails/previews are likely central to the issue.
If nothing changes, then:
another component may be touching the files instead.
AI sourced content may make mistakes.