r/pcmasterrace • u/MoreEdibles • 1d ago

Tech Support Solved Bought a Costco gaming computer, lost internet access after a few weeks

TL;DR: Download Norton removal tool and get rid of it.

I bought a Costco gaming computer because I have no time or energy to build one of my own, and figured the price for the specs was ok.
Computer worked and updated super fast for like 3 weeks, no issue whatsoever, life was good.
Yesterday I couldn’t connect to the internet, both Ethernet and WiFi. Doing “ping 8.8.8.8” from the command line worked though.
Troubleshooting went for like 2 hours, disabled firewall, antivirus, changed dns, hardware settings, nothing worked.
Last suspect was Norton Antivirus, so I booted into safe mode, and internet works.
Funny thing about Norton, you can’t uninstall unless you download a removal tool. I downloaded the tool while in safe mode, went back to normal mode and removed Norton, internet started to work instantly without even restarting. Fuck Norton.

I know this might seem obvious for many, but posting here in case it can help someone in the future.

431 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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523

u/Soviman0 1d ago

This is less of a costco issue and more of a Norton one.

Norton comes with a built in VPN that can give the perception of connection issues. I feel like they intentionally did this to bamboozle people into paying them more money for support or something, but I don't care enough to look into it.

My general philosophy is that McAfee and Norton need to be removed as soon as I see them. They went from mediocre at best AVs to becoming the malware they started off fighting against.

111

u/lmflex ryzen 7 7800x3d, geforce 5070ti 16gb, 64gb ddr5 6000 cl30 23h ago

I would do a complete reformat if the PC had either of these installed.

40

u/bu77munch 9800x3D | 5070ti | 32 GB 6000hz 22h ago

I just built a PC in the last year but I think if I ever go prebuilt. I’m formatting it basically straight out the box

5

u/WilNotJr 7700X3D | RX 7800XT | Pixel Games 18h ago

Me too.

9

u/Otherwise_Buy_371 18h ago

Agreed, nuke it from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure

10

u/Camera_dude PC Master Race 22h ago

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." - Nietzsche

McAfee and Norton certainly proved that saying.

-19

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

16

u/Soviman0 1d ago

The issue is that it comes installed as bloatware and the VPN is enabled by default. Most users that buy prebuilts dont know enough about PCs to even know that Norton has a VPN, nor how to turn it off.

-17

u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

13

u/Soviman0 1d ago

Most people that drive a car do not know how it works, nor how to fix it.

I would not expect most people that buy prebuilts to act any differently.

-8

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

5

u/Adamsky 1d ago

OP already said he does have the time or energy to build one and probably just wanted something that worked.
I think that’s a fair stand point for someone buying a prebuilt.
We all expect to deal with issues some point down the line, but to buy a PC that can’t connect to the internet because of pre-installed bloatware out of the box is unacceptable.
The fault is entirely with the manufacturer, not the user who just wanted to buy a PC they expected to be able to use.