I posted before that v24 can randomly change your settings from the previous version of N360 when it installs. To my dismay, I’m finding that v24 continues to change settings randomly on all of my computers, and each one in unique ways. So if you decide to stay with v24 version, you may want to check all your settings periodically.
Example: Today I found that v24 created several new networks and randomly selected settings on one of my computers. When v24 first installed, there were two networks on this computer. Both should been public but one was set to public and the other private, so I changed set them both to public. This morning I found this. I hadn’t touched the settings. I have no idea why networks are propagating like rabbits and, more importantly, why v24 randomly selected private for the newest network.
Just speculating here: could those extra networks be Wi-Fi networks from your neighbors that were found after the initial v24 setup?
It’s the only somewhat reasonable explanation I can think of. If it’s not that, then it must simply be yet another annoying, frustrating “feature” of Norton 360 v24.
I have the same sort of thing. Listing infers there are other networks are available, these are apparently provided by other ISP’s to mine. Mine is listed as ‘connected’. From Windows system tray networks is only mine is connected, it also lists available networks, all but 1 locked BUT they are different than Norton’s version!
Good idea. That would be plausible except in my case all my computers are connected via ethernet to the router so I have no idea why it’s “finding” new networks. I’m less concerned that it’s creating new network connections BUT I AM very concerned about v24 is randomly changing the protocol from public to private without any notification or a prompt. I use public network mode since it limits the types of traffic.
Here’s another possibility. This morning I went into my own N360 firewall settings, and saw that the same Wi-Fi hotspot that I set up on that PC for our phones is listed twice under “Recent Networks”. At one point since v24 got installed, I had to reboot the PC, and then of course I re-enabled the hotspot. So maybe v24 isn’t remembering that it already saw that network and is listing it a second time.
Is it possible that all those Network 3, 4, 5 etc. listings you’re seeing, are the result of PC reboots, then each time N360 starts up again and looks around for a network, it doesn’t realize that it already saw that same network, so it gives the “new” one a new name?
The rebooting could be the culprit creating new networks. But this shouldn’t cause Norton to change the network trust level. And the behavior is random. Why it self selects public or private at one time and not another…who knows? This is definitely a bug in v24. Never had this problem with the previous versions and I’ve been using Norton antivirus since the days of Symantec. Maybe 25 years?
I’m rolling back to the previous version this week but may end up jumping ship even though my subscription is paid to 2026. Maybe just use Windows Defender or Bitdefender. Anything but Avast.
Yeah, I’ve been using Norton products for about the same amount of time, and I’ve never seen anything by them that’s as buggy as this v24. It should really be able to remember that the network it saw before, is the same network that it’s seeing now. And definitely not randomly change the trust level.
I’m sticking with v24 for the time being, but if these sorts of problems don’t get fixed soon, I’ll be looking for an alternative AV even though my sub runs through next August. Who needs these headaches?
@mgirons The networks showing up in Norton are all on the LAN side, not WAN, so they should reflect the networks configured either in the router and/or switchbox but I have no clue about Norton’s network ID protocol. None of the Norton network ID coincides with my networks. I don’t think N360 is programmed to grab that info, which is okay with me. It seems v24 just generically assigns a new number each time it finds a “new” network. Since my computers are connected to the router using ethernet, the list of networks shouldn’t be growing or changing but as @JorgeA suggested maybe when Windows “wakes up” after hibernating or being shut down, v24 believes there’s a new network. But if that’s the only trigger, I should have a much longer list of networks since I shut down the computer every day. It sure bugs me that we have to keep an eye on the network trust level.
Hopefully these headaches will be behind me after I roll back to the previous version in a couple of days.
@Puzzler. My desktop is connected to router & printer by Ethernet, I also have an old Laptop that i only turn on ever few days or so - that connects to both router & printer by wi-fi. Seems this is one of the many things that Norton reckon they can do better than Microsoft Window’s own processes, defrag, software updater, file clean-up etx. etc.
@mgirons Makes life exciting, doesn’t it? I’m old enough to remember the first IBM personal computer. It was supposed to make our lives simpler. Wish I had kept a log of the many hours spent over the years troubleshooting. Sure hasn’t made my life simpler. Or fun.
It’s nice to have a community forum to help navigate through the maze. And, as they say, misery loves company.
@Puzzler I’m like you, an old fogey. I think a lot of the problems nowadays is the software developers never test what they have done in the real world, they do not fully understand what is required, Norton with this latest version, Microsoft with some of their stuff, it is up to the users to do the testing. I can remember the time when you could actually talk to the developers and explain what is required from the user’s point of view.
@mgirons Remember the days when they actually gave you printed manuals?
You’re right about the current corporate philosophy. In the tech arena, consumers are treated more like guinea pigs rather than customers. And pretty soon we’ll likely all be “helped” by HAL 9000 (from 2001 A Space Odyssey).
I really must be getting older, reminiscing about the golden days of yore.