The Norton anti virus on my computer has started giving me messages that
“Our scan has found your high risk information available online”. Is this
just a scare tactic to get me to buy additional services? Should I take this
seriously?
There have been so many data breaches that it is likely that almost all of us have high risk information available online. What you and everyone here should be doing is changing passwords so they are both very strong and unique for any website which includes your financial information.
Norton is a scam, close to malware on its own. Uninstall that junk and ignore anything that mentions it.
In its place, install Windows Defender and uBlock Origin instead.
If you’re worried about data leaks, use haveibeenpwned.com. Your info is almost certainly out there somewhere, but so is most everyone’s. Use a password manager and strong passwords if you’re worried.
is Norton one of those antiviruses hat don’t actually do a complete uninstall if you follow the directions they give you?
The full name of the company is Norton LifeLock. My guess is that they want to sell you the LifeLock product.
Dewey_Finn:
Yes that is what I suspect.
Before that, Norton was called Simantec, if you remember.
Symantec, actually.
I am happy with the Norton product overall but their constant sales pitches for new products drives me nuts. It would be funny if it weren’t annoying that they keep informing me of a data breach of my address and phone number except that it ISN’T my address or phone number and never was. I want to be able to stop that alert and there seems to be no way!
Norton is utterly useless and has been for 20+ years. Uninstall that garbage before it does something even more harmful to your machine than it already has.
What about it are you happy with?
If it is a popup and not through the program directly, it could be fake and you coincidentaly have Norton on your computer.
What LSLGuy said. Uninstall everything with Norton in the name and mark everything from them as spam.
ArtsCubed: Apparently there are notification options in settings where you can toggle notifications on or off. One specifically you want to turn off if you have it for your particular software is Settings → Administrative Settings → turn off “Special Offer Notification”. Another possibility if you have it for your particular software is Settings > Privacy (or Notifications if available directly). Under Privacy, click Dark Web Monitoring. Toggle the Notifications switch to Off. This stops pop-ups and in-app alerts.
Apparently the various options differ for different versions.
The last time a Norton product was any good:
I run a small home office business and I am always getting a lot of files from clients. Norton has been better than MS at blocking malware. So it does what I need it to do.