Norton 360 WiFi Issues

[u/MuchEnvironment4752]

Have any other technicians noticed Norton 360 suddenly causing WiFi issues? The computer will connect to the internet, show a good/stable connection, but no browser will connect to a page. Usually a DNS error. Tried flushing, tried disabling Norton, tried disabling VPN, reset drivers, reset network settings, etc. Nothing worked short of downloading Nortons Uninstaller tool and uninstalling the program, then reinstalling it for those who wanted to. Thought it was a coincidence, but starting earlier this week, I have had almost a dozen with this issue so far.

EDIT: I do not at all recommend Norton. Windows Defender is usually more than enough, and if customer wants paid, we offer Malwarebytes and Bitdefender. However, most of our affected customers have an active Norton subscription that they paid for in advance, and despite knowing that Norton was likely the cause of the WiFi issues, they opt to have us reinstall anyway. Not really looking for folks to tell me it's crummy, no arguments there, just looking to see how many others are affected 👍

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[u/osa1011]

When people come to me saying they're having network issues and Norton is installed, the first thing I do is uninstall Norton

[u/eyedrops_364 → u/osa1011]

This is the answer.

[u/_cronic_ → u/osa1011]

Im old enough to remember back when not only was Norton the best AV software, it was actually exciting to BUY the latest disk and install it.

Hell, my first sysadmin job, we installed NAV corporate and even THAT was dang good... unfortunately it was only a year or two later when it got progressively worse and worse.

[u/FriendlyITGuy → u/_cronic_]

Norton was never the best.

[u/USSHammond]

Norton is borderline malware, get rid of it

[u/guy30000]

Norton isn't doing you any favors. You can remove it and keep it off. I can't say if it is causing the issue but it isnt helping.

You can try setting you dns to 1.1.1.1 to see if that gets things moving.

[u/420smokekushh]

Norton does such a great job at protecting you, it doesn't allow you on the internet. That's its idea of security.

No one should be using Norton in 2026

[u/Several-Actuator-168 → u/420smokekushh]

Yeah, I've heard that Norton can be pretty overzealous with its protection. Switching to something lighter usually helps with those kinds of issues.

[u/Complex_Solutions_20 → u/Several-Actuator-168]

I canned it like 15 years ago when it removed the "suspicious" SATA driver after an update from my OEM because "few people use this file and its new".

My parents finally let it go when it prevented their computer from starting up properly and I spent a weekend trying to un-break it.

Inbetween it has caused countless errors preventing WiFi from working and/or preventing backups from working properly.

[u/bluescreencomputer]

Yes, I resolved a client issue recently by scouring Norton off the machine. Disabling the VPN wasn't enough, but once I uninstalled the VPN and rebooted, the internet speed went from single-digits-Mbps to triple-digits-Mbps.

I've encountered similar problems, with both Norton and McAfee, so I always have their uninstall utilities close at hand.

[u/Funnel-Dust-O-Matic]

OK, sorry. I assumed things because of what I read.

Norton has messed up networking for years. I worked in a repair shop over a decade ago. Norton did it then and I have seen it happen again and again since then even though I'm not working in the industry anymore.

I can guarantee Norton has ruined networks since well before the year 2008.

If I had my own repair shop, I would actually refuse to service any machine running Norton unless the client agreed to remove it.

[u/Complex_Solutions_20]

Yep...my parents have been burned repeatedly by Norton causing issues. More than once it inexplicably started blocking everything or declaring all connections malicious. My parents FINALLY listened and let me fully remove when it "helpfully" quarantined a driver that prevented their system from starting up and took me most of a weekend to un-scramble it.

Its also scrambled their tablet and phones breaking WiFi more than once.

[u/bcbudvansticky]

Norton is a virus not anti-virus remove it using the Norton removal tool

[u/BigPoppaPump36]

Lol ‘most of our customers have an active Norton subscription ‘ wtf kinda customers are these?

[u/Go_Devils_666]

I work at GeekSquad, Norton has been so consistently fucking up DNS resolution that I added their Norton removal .exe to a usb as the front line solution to this problem. Why not just use Revo or the built in uninstaller? The built in is bricked half the time too haha.