VPN Causes more harm than good

My Norton 360 comes with a fairly normal looking VPN with the standard set of settings, regions etc. The problem is that whenever I have it up and running, I have problems with my Outlook email acct. or Edge freezing up, mouse stops working, internet connection is lost, etc. After 5-10 minutes things go back to normal (if internet connection is still hooked up) and unless I get out of Outlook or Edge in a couple of minutes everything freezes up again. The same issues occur with Edge. Sometimes I cannot open Edge or Outlook! I cannot connect to printer unless VPN is off. I have had the support team check out my computer and tried using the Kill Switch because I was getting the error message that a server change was detected over and over. The support rep told me the problem was the kill switch and that he had disabled it and all was now well. As the rep was disconnecting, I tried to open Outlook and it froze up immediately, but the rep was disconnected. Without the VPN on, or in the auto VPN mode all works perfectly well. I do not totally trust the Auto VPN mode. Should I just nuke Norton all together, get a good stand-alone anti-viral service (Norton does the device security part quite well) and return to Nord (had the free Norton that came with Comcast and used the Nord with it for years. No compatibility issues, ever!) @ $3/mo.? I think the Norton techs have taken my situation seriously and tried to address my issues with the VPN, but they just don't seem to succeed in fixing it. Updated/re-installed drivers, triple checked settings, used the Power Eraser, the MSERT and file checker scan, safe mode removal/re-install Norton countless times, to name a few sigh....

Connection is so intermittent!

I am turning off the VPN until there is a definitive fix. Once it fails I get all kinds of Page Not Found 404 errors. Turned it off and , poof, everything worked 

Me too!

Thank you for your input. I have purchased Nord and all the problems are gone. Your solution makes perfect sense, but the problems with Norton's VPN should be fixed since we all pay for the service. There should be at least the option to get the Norton security for a discounted price so we can purchase a VPN that works like it should. Why pay twice? $3 won't break the bank but with the posts that are popping up you would think Norton might be a bit concerned...Naaaaa

Sure, and that's what I did by getting Nord. It's a matter of principle. I assume part of my monthly bill includes the VPN I cannot use as well as the $3 I have to pay Nord for a VPN that does the job without disabling my computer or disconnecting me from the internet or..... Norton needs to improve their VPN or reduce the price so that people can get a reliable and compatible one! I can afford the $3, but lets fix the Norton!

Oh I have disabled everything to do with the Norton VPN. Totally! All Norton VPN settings disabled! What I did after douching the Norton VPN (I left all the Norton security features intact as they are actually quite good) and I splurged and got Nord VPN as my stand-alone VPN service and now everything is great with all my issues/devices!! I now have a much better VPN (compare Nord with Norton VPN from any unbiased source and the performance, features, numbers of servers, encryption options etc. is stunning) and for the $3 dollars a month it's more than worth it. I have to say that Norton did try and resolve my issues and even told me that they thought it might be the (Norton) VPN but did not fix it. In desperation I did have the kill switch on for a short period, but I rurded it off and it made no difference. My suggestion to Norton: Get-out of the VPN space until you get it right and cover the cost of Nord until you do. Just my suggestion. Like a lot of things, no product is a better option than a lousy product.

Thanks to all who have responded. I'm going to finish out my 360 subscription & then go back to basic Norton Security. I will add a different VPN software.

@Dougaloo

If you are happy with the security features of Norton 360, there is nothing stopping you from continuing to use it alongside a standalone VPN service of your choice. The VPN feature in 360 will do nothing as long as you do not turn it on from withing the product.

The email account issue with the VPN active is generally your email provider protecting your account from what appears to be someone else trying to access your account from somewhere other than where you are known to access the account from. If you are using an email client software on your computer, you can use the Split Tunnel feature to exclude your email client from the VPN service. If you are using web based email, then that option is not there for you.

 

I will not renew Norton 360! I can't get tech support &/or a fix for the VPN shutting down my internet connection. VPN is totally USELESS!!!!

Recently when I try to open several of my regular websites which require login & password, I am getting a message that my PC is not recognized. I assume that this is because the VPN was changed by Norton. But in my Norton 360 setting the Secure VPN is not turned on. Do you have a solution? Or maybe it's not the Norton 360 which causes this problem.