Why has Norton stopped working?
I bought Norton 360 Deluxe antivirus for five devices, and set it up on a Windows 10 laptop and my two Samsung tablets – an SM-T280 from 2016 (pictured right), and a more recent SM-T290. This initially worked fine, but recently Norton stopped working on the older tablet. I tried reinstalling it but the Google Play Store says my device isn’t compatible with this version (see screenshot below). It’s still working fine on the SM-T290. However, this does not give me much confidence to renew Norton next year, so I’ve installed a Mcafee product instead. I’d appreciate your thoughts on this problem.
QARoger Stacey
The simple problem here is that the latest version of Norton 360 now requires Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) or later, but your 2016-vintage SM-T280 runs Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop). There is no official upgrade to later Android versions. Your SM-T290 is from 2019 and came with Android 9.0 (Pie). It’s upgradeable to 10.0 and should continue being compatible with Norton 360 for years to come.
Now, it is often possible to root older tablets to install unauthorised later versions of Android. However, according to the forums of the XDA Developers website ( https://forum.xda-developers. com) – containing instructions for any Android owner interested in rooting – this just hasn’t proved possible with the SM-T280. In other words, the device looks set to be forever stuck with Android 5.1.1. This means Norton 360 is no longer compatible, so you’ll have to use the Mcafee software you’ve installed instead.