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For several years, COMCAST customers have been provided Norton Anti-Virus, without extra cost to the customer. COMCAST has now decided to increase their prices, by no longer providing Norton.
I would like your suggestions for a robust replacement for Norton.
Home user, W10. Personally I don’t pay for it. I use Microsoft Defender along with Malwarebytes ADWcleaner. A number of people here use the paid edition of Malwarebytes.
You may find that Comcast did you a service. I use Geo’s suggested apps, and am well satisfied.
Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro
The message I received from Comcast is below. It is not clear to me how “xFi Advanced Security” fits into an overall security design. I expect I will uninstall Norton and activate Defender. Any other thoughts?
Norton Security Online will be unavailable soon
xFi Advanced Security helps keep you protected
Xfinity is dedicated to keeping your connection safe, secure, and private. And while we’re writing to let you know that Norton Security Online will no longer be available through Xfinity as of January 1, 2021, we’re happy to tell you that as an Xfinity xFi customer, Advanced Security is already included with your service at no extra charge.
xFi Advanced Security is a smarter, more personalized security solution for your home WiFi network. It helps protect all the devices connected to your home network. Here’s how Advanced Security helps you:
• Monitors all the devices connected to your home network, unlike Norton which only protects computers and mobile devices
• Protects you from malware, phishing, and visiting malicious sites
• Starts seamlessly without any hardware or software to install—your xFi Gateway is all you need
• Adapts to your home WiFi network and gets smarter over time to keep up with new threats
Edit to remove HTML. Please use the “Text” tab in the entry box when you copy/pastse
I recently started a topic headed Internet Security Providers #2307999 at https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/internet-security-providers/#post-2308001 that addressed the loss of Norton Security Suite that was provided free by Comcast.
The conclusion of the topic was, “Thank you all for contributing to our search for a new Internet Security Provider.
Based upon your input, ESET Internet Security received the most positive response followed by Bitdefender Internet Security, Norton 360 Deluxe, and Windows Defender.
Avast Premium Security and AVG Internet Security were nonstarters.”
I believe the topic Internet Security Providers addresses in full your search for a, “… a robust replacement for Norton.”
Comcast Xfinity is being confusing as can be about this. When you look at the details, they claim to be discontinuing free Norton Internet Security ONLY if you rent one of their rent an Xfinity xFi Gateways. Xfinity provides its own security via hardward and software in its xFi Gateways.They say, “xFi Advanced Security provides cybersecurity protection at the gateway level, protecting not only the devices that have screens, but all the connected devices in your home.”
But elsewhere Comcast says it is discontiniung free Norton Internet Security for users of its internet service — and doesn’t mention anything about the xFi Gateways. So I suspect we won’t know for sure until January 1. The Xfinity page where you download Norton is:
https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/norton-security-download-install-pc
If that page is still working on Jan 1 2021, you probably can still get Norton free if you don’t use the Xfinity’s xFi Gateway.
Gotta wait another day and see.
Comcast Xfinity is being confusing as can be about this. When you look at the details, they claim to be discontinuing free Norton Internet Security ONLY if you rent one of their rent an Xfinity xFi Gateways.
Comcast don’t say free Norton is ONLY discontinued if you rent an Xfinity gateway, but they justify their decision based on what the majority of their 30 million customers use:
Because of the protection xFi Advanced Security provides, we’ve decided to no longer include Norton Security Online with our Xfinity Internet service beginning January 1, 2021.
Norton Security Online No Longer Offered with Xfinity Internet in 2021
The Xfinity page where you download Norton is:
https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/norton-security-download-install-pc
If that page is still working on Jan 1 2021, you probably can still get Norton free if you don’t use the Xfinity’s xFi Gateway.
The page is still there but the download is no longer available.
does Norton automatically let you know when it no longer keeps itself current
Yes. It will let you know that your subscription is expiring.
cheers, Paul
As of today my Norton is still working. Jan 4th.
kstephens I feel like I owe you an apology I think I hijacked your post 🙁 … it started out as a “find a suitable replacement for the norton that comcast/xfinity is taking away” and turned into ” Hey Norton is still working what should I do?” (though I guess the two are related so hopefully this helps?) .. but my apologies 🙁 ..
But (I know I know I apologize then I continue the hijacking 😛 ) … I’m beginning to think (even if Comcast/Xfinity doesn’t say this out loud) that they are going to just quietly let existing Norton installations stand/continue and simply deny the installation of Norton onto new devices or the devices of new customers who join comcast/xfinity.
This is definitely groan-worthy for people like me who just bought $70 worth of Norton security it’s beginning to look like I’ll never have to use 😛 (can still use the $15 purchase for the phones/tablet come October when the current license runs out).. but in the long run worth it in not having to spend $35 a year (at least) for all the household devices is good if comcast/xfinity just continues to keep ignoring (not cancelling) existing Norton installations.
Again I should point out I have purchased my own modem/router so I don’t know if that makes a difference and persons who rent a modem from Comcast/Xfinity had their Norton cancelled as of January 1st 2021. Roger if you don’t mind me asking, do you rent a modem from Comcast/Xfinity or have you purchased your own one?
.
.
No apology is necessary. All of us want to make sure we(including us Comcast users) are all protected against viruses.
My Norton is still functional, including scans and updates. It may be that Comcast is not providing Norton for NEW customers, but will let people who have it already still use it.
If Norton eventually goes belly-up on Comcast, I will just use Windows Defender. AVTest.org rates antivirus, and they gave Windows Defender a high rating.
Ken
I am using a Comcast-applied modem, but the Norton deal had nothing to do with that. Earlier, I used my (outdated) modem, and still got Norton.
Even if Norton has your credit card information, it would be a violation of both Federal and state law if they charged you without your permission. In addition, you could disavow the “purchase” with your card provider. Credit card providers are very sensitive about charges that are illegitimate, because in the end, the law is stacked against them, and they end up eating the amount themselves. Norton would be unable to provide proof that you authorized the charge, because you didn’t. If they were to allege that you authorized the charge (and you had not), then that would constitute a felony.
As I recall, when I signed on with Comcast and got Norton (free), I did not provide a credit card number (nor would I for a free item). At any rate, that was years ago, and any card I would have provided at that time would have expired. Without a current card, they would not be allowed to charge the card. If the card company authorized the use of an expired card, then the card company is liable for any disputed charges.
According to expert USAF_E-8_RET’s 05-Jan-2021 post in the Xfinity thread Update on Norton Security Online Deactivation :
… Norton will begin to deactivate your Comcast’s Norton Security Online on 7 January 2021. This will be a “throttled removal” and could take into the month of February for it to be totally completed. In regards to throttled it is basically to control “call volume” to Support. …If the volume is too heavy, the deactivation process can be throttled back to a slower deactivation schedule ...
Users might also find some useful information in koa’s 30-Dec-2020 thread How Do I Make Sure My Desktop PC is Protected? in the Norton forum. I’m not a Comcast / Xfinity customer but based on the information I was able to find on this topic, Xfitnity’s free xFi Advanced Security is only available to customers who rent a xFi Gateway, and it can’t remove malware from your system and is not intended to be a substitute for a full antivirus. It simply monitors the network traffic for connected devices on your network for malicious activity (including smart devices like security cameras that could be hacked) and can prevent you from browsing to malicious sites. If a device appears to be compromised it will isolate / block that device from the rest of your network until you “unblock” that device with their xFi Advanced Security app. My understanding is that Xfinity customers were supposed to receive an e-mail explaining how they could switch to a paid subscription of Norton 360 using a special offer code. For example, the Norton’s US online store has a web page at Our Best Norton 360 Plans for Select Xfinity Customers that currently lists Norton 360 Deluxe (1-Year, 5-Devices) for $14.99 USD, compared to the regular price of $104.99 USD (currently on sale <here> for $49.99 USD to the general public if you live in the US) that you’ll likely pay next year if you purchase directly from Norton and agree to annual auto-renewal of your subscription at the full price. (note: auto-renewal can be disabled in your Norton Account once you have completed your purchase).
I should mention that I used Norton for several years on my old Vista SP2 machine, but my Win 10 machine now uses Windows Defender as the main antivirus, supplemented by the occasional on-demand scan with Malwarebytes Free.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v1909 build 18363.1256 * Firefox v84.0.2 * Windows Defender v4.18.2011.6 * Malwarebytes Free v4.3.0.98-1.0.1130
Instead of advertising they do this they just remove it.
It was announced a couple of months in advance:
In a late October post, Comcast said its rollout of free, whole-home security protection to the 20 million subscribers renting its xFi gateways made the Norton freebie redundant.
As Comcast drops one computer security plan, what – if anything – should you replace it with?
And users also received emails by 11/1/2020 notifying them of the change:
An email communication has been sent out by Comcast to all the Comcast customers explaining this change.
End-of-service announcement for NortonLifeLock subscription offered by Comcast
However – and bear in mind this is info I received from Xfinity years ago so this info could be highly suspect 😛 … Xfinity claims that A&T caps the number of devices that can connect to the internet, limits bandwidth speed in ways Xfinity does not and so forth
Hi Andrepartthree:
The AT&T support page Data Usage Support at https://www.att.com/help/wireless/data-usage/ confirms that AT&T will throttle bandwidth under certain conditions (e.g., “On an unlimited plan? We may temporarily slow your speed at any time if our network is busy. We may also slow it after you use more than 50GB or 22GB of data in a single bill period.“).
According to the June 2018 CNET article Comcast Says It Isn’t Throttling Heavy Internet Users Anymore, Comcast/Xfinity began throttling bandwidth in 2008 but stopped that practice on 11-Jun-2018. Xfinity’s official disclosure statement at https://www.xfinity.com/policies/internet-broadband-disclosures seems to confirm that and states “Comcast does not degrade or impair access to lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content, application, service, user, or use of a non-harmful device …Comcast currently does not maintain a separate system to assist with managing times of congestion. As our network technologies and usage of the network continue to evolve, we reserve the right to implement a new congestion management system if necessary… and will provide updates here as well as other locations if a new system is implemented.”
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v1909 build 18363.1256 * Firefox v84.0.2 * Windows Defender v4.18.2011.6 * Malwarebytes Free v4.3.0.98-1.0.1130
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