Norton 360 antivirus now with crypto mining

Norton’s parent firm says the cloud-based service that activates the program and allows customers to profit from the scheme — in which the company keeps 15% of any currencies mined — is opt-in, meaning users must agree to enable it. But many Norton users complain the mining program is difficult to remove, and some customers don’t agree with the new solution.

Norton Crypto, as the crypto mining program is named, will mine Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency while the customer’s computer is idle. The FAQ also says Norton Crypto will only run on systems that meet certain hardware and software requirements (such as an NVIDIA graphics card with at least 6 GB of memory).

It’s an open question whether Norton Crypto users can expect to see much profit from participating in this scheme, at least in the short run. Crypto mining causes one’s computer to draw more power, which can increase one’s overall electricity costs.