Xfinity Constant Guard – A Cautionary Tale!

Today, it’s time for a more tech-themed post. Why? Well, mainly because I had a run-in with a computer program offered by my ISP that really made me mad!

You see, when I logged onto my computer last night, I noticed a Windows message saying that I needed to set up an anti-virus program. Somehow, it seems, my Norton Security Suite (another program we could talk forever about!) was removed from my computer with no explanation why. I thought at first that it might be due to some kind of virus or malware, but after making sure my computer was clean and looking up possible explanations, it seems that somehow another program conflicted with it and it may have been removed. The other possible explanation, though, is that the program basically removed itself, thinking it was outdated due to my license of it through Comcast, and it wanted me to download the “new” alternative. What was that? Why, it was Constant Guard by Xfinity!

At first, I had no problem installing the program – after all, it seemed to be okay, and it included Norton within it. However, I was quickly cautioned against the program, and after doing some research, I found all sorts of opinions about it, mostly negative. Some outright stated that it was worse than malware and that using no antivirus at all would likely be better than using it. Worse yet, the program apparently can be used by Xfinity/Comcast itself in order to datamine you and then throttle your internet speeds accordingly.

Thinking that was complete bullshit, I opted to cancel the installation and remove the program. I managed to cancel it, and was then prompted to restart my PC (no idea why that was necessary), and yet upon doing so, not only did a bunch of programs start turning on at start-up that I had removed in the past, but Constant Guard was also starting up and attempting to install itself. Clicking on the big word “Cancel” on the menu did absolutely nothing, and if I terminated the process and went to remove it from the Program Files, it would just sit there and reinstall itself. Craziness. The nifty little program Microsoft Fix It was also sadly of no help here.

After some online digging, I found that there was a program called Norton Removal Tools that was necessary to ensure that it was completely gone from my computer. So, obviously others had lots of problems getting rid of it too. After running it, doing a clean restart, and then setting up a much better and more reliable antivirus program, I went through and corrected my start-up applications, did a deep malware scan, and did a deep virus scan to ensure that everything was in working order.

I’m sure some of you out there might possibly have had okay experiences with this program (and Norton too), but if you have the option and don’t need these programs, take my advice: there are tons of better (and even free!) applications out there that you should get waaaaay before you ever consider these!


For other news, musings, podcasts, videos, and more, please also check out my gaming site, Allahweh’s Domain!

One thought on “Xfinity Constant Guard – A Cautionary Tale!

  1. I definitely understand what you mean when it comes to out of the box OEM computers. Most of them (Dell, HP, etc.) come with a bunch of bloatware or may have Windows hastily installed with problems associated with it. One thing I always recommend is to simply speed through the first time set-up, download the Windows 10 installer, and do a reformat and fresh install of a clean OS. This way, you can put only what you want on the computer.

    I’d say do a clean install of Windows 10, install Avast (awesome free virus protection/malware protection) and put it on Silent/Gaming mode, and you should be good to go these days.

    No need for any other bloated software!

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