Security company Norton is facing fresh criticism for its resolve to include a cryptominer with its antivirus service.
The feature was introduced in the first month of summer XNUMX, allowing XNUMX Norton subscribers to mine Ether, the cryptocurrency on the Ethereum network. At the time, the move was criticized as a freehanded attempt to capitalize on the cryptocurrency heyday, regardless of the environmental impact or financial risk to users.
Now, customers of Norton's service have taken to Twitter to lament that the cryptominer is much more difficult to uninstall than it needs to be. Others suggest that it should not be installed on machines in the first place without the explicit permission of the user.
norton answers
The situation went from bad to worse after Norton responded to the original tweet, pointing out that the crypto miner is "an activation-only feature" and does not activate without user permission, prompting a series of angry replies.
"If it's optional, why is it installed by default and can't be removed without getting rid of all antivirus software?" asked one Twitter user. Meanwhile, others took issue with the complacent tone of the service's customer service response and suggested that Norton should stick to its guns as a cybersecurity company.
In a statement provided to The Register, Norton again sought to clear up the confusion:
“Norton Crypto is only an activation feature and is not activated without user permission. If users have activated Norton Crypto but no longer wish to use the feature, it can be disabled through Norton XNUMX by temporarily disabling "Tamper Protection" (which allows users to alter the Norton installation) and deleting NCrpyt.exe from his computer. "
TechRadar Pro asked Norton if they were considering making the cryptominer an optional component or making the uninstall process more achievable for customers of the service with limited technical knowledge. The company only responded indirectly, and the same statement was given to other outlets.
Through the registry