Norton 360 has rolled out a new cryptocurrency mining feature within its antivirus suite. But it is already controversial, for several reasons, but it is mainly criticized for making it almost impossible to uninstall the mining software.
The madness of cryptocurrency is now winning the antivirus companies. Norton 360 now offers the Norton Crypto service, which allows you to mine Ethereum with your computer when it is unoccupied. It was actually launched as early as July 2021, but with a low volume of users so far. Deployment has accelerated over the past few days.
Norton Crypto, easy to install, hell to remove
Norton Crypto imposes a 15% commission on mined cryptocurrencies, and also charges transaction fees if the user wishes to transfer their earnings to a wallet other than the Norton Wallet, a fully cloud-based solution. A button referring to Coinbase should also soon appear in the application.
Norton Crypto does not work through a web interface or from an antivirus section. You have to install specific software to make it work. Problem, it seems that downloading and installing the program starts very easily. A user who would only like to know more about the platform would be invited to install Norton Crypto on his machine. During the antivirus installation process, user is also encouraged to include mining software in the components to be installed.
Bigger problem, it appears that getting rid of the software is an obstacle course, as evidenced by several users who have tried the experiment. Removing the NCrypt.exe executable is not possible using traditional means, even if you have administrative rights. Norton Crypto is even accused of integrating itself into the user’s registry in order to further complicate removal attempts.
The price of ether and other cryptocurrencies has come to a halt in recent days, between an announcement by the United States Federal Reserve that could threaten the growth of the United States economy, and the crisis in which is plunged Kazakhstan, which became home to Chinese mining farms after bans pronounced by the Chinese government.
I can’t get rid of it and I have admin permissions …
– Raine (@RaineFGC) January 3, 2022
Source: Wccftech