OK, so it was using 81% of my CPU. Now it’s 17%. But that’s still too much, don’t you think? What exactly is it using that for?
So I had version 7.32.2.0, installed 16 Jan. Now I have version 7.32.3.0, installed 21 Jan. After another reboot, it was no longer asking for permission to run a background process, and it worked fine. Using no more than 4%, including app and the background process.
I thought my issue was over with the new update, and that the original issue was caused by version 7.32.2.0. Now it’s back again! It’s at 13% for app and 4% for background process, and it appears to be climbing! For doing nothing more than idling, and not even connected to VPN. It’s a runaway train! It’s not as high as 81%, it’s only 17% combined now. But given enough time, it may get there eventually. I’m thinking it may be a memory leak!
What’s with this asking for permission to run a background process? What is that for anyway? I’ve seen it before. Sometimes it appears after a reboot, but sometimes it doesn’t. One time I remember it appeared and before I could click to allow, it disappeared, as if it had allowed itself. That’s probably becuase it took some time for it to calculate that I had already given it permission previously and so it removed the cry screen. But then… if it has lost its memory/mind now again and doens’t know I have already given it permission, and it’s asking me about it again, and it’s not going away… then it must mean the app has been updated again? Without my knowledge? And so previously given persmissions have been reset, and so it’s asking for it again. That’s my hypothesis anyway.
Nope. I never use that. But I do see one NordVPN process taking 36.1% CPU, and then another NordVPN process taking 45.1%. If it’s one or the other it’s too much, but the sum of both is 81.2% which is insane.
I pay for it, but I don’t use Threat Protection. It’s disabled almost at all times. I sometimes use ad and tracker blocker, and then disable it when I’m done.
I know how it feels to be kicked out and locked out. My Amazon account was suspended for no good reason last year. Some algorithm decided I was doing something suspicious by jumping between markets and going for the settings page to change my phone number. At least I think that’s what triggered it.
I have never had as much as a warning, and I seldomely use my Amazon account. I usually use it to buy things I can’t find locally or from domestic online stores. I had my account for more than 12 years. I even had it before “Amazon launched” in my own country. Before then, I used my account with Amazon UK before the Brexit happened, and then started using Amazon DE. Even after they launched in my country, I continued to use Amazon DE because that’s where most of the good were coming from anyway, but I often got a better price by placing my order there. Amazon “launching” just meant launching another website, with another top level domain, and letting AI do some very funny and mocked item title and description translations.
But you can’t talk sense with these faceless and nearly nameless companies from another jurisdicition than the country they operate in, like Luxembourg! I witnessed this first hand. You can’t see your due invoices when you’re locked out, you can’t follow orders, you can’t do returns, you can’t even contact them because they hide their phone numbers! You’re screwed! Pretty much. You’re completely at their mercy. That’s when I decided to shop less at Amazon. They did let me back in. But not less than five days later, and after I chased them, contacting them by their very special and hidden contact form, and by phone, calling Amazon customer servcie numbers in two different countries.
So that was my experience with Amazon lockout or banning. I hope you didn’t have the same experience with NordVPN tech support?
How did you discovered that your account had been banned? Did you get an e-mail about it? Were you able to contact tech support? Was it tech support that told you about web scraping? When was this?
I have used NordVPN since 2017. I know NordVPN in 2025 is not the same service as in 2017. A lot of things have changed. The biggest connectivity problem I had with NordVPN was when Google Search didn’t work. Whenever connected to VPN and googling something, Google would say: “Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network.” It worked well with DuckDuckGo. I guess NordVPN had not paid its fee to Google! If it’s not one spying on you, then it’s the other.
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I think this only started after an update I installed yesterday or the day before. And now every time I reboot and log back into Windows, and NordVPN autostarts, NordVPN asks me to allow a background process. This may be the cause? I click to allow and then I get this. I think it was in this order. I will give it a spin again when I’m back at that PC again.
There seem to be many updates in a short time. I think you may be right. This could be a bug. The PC I’m at right now only takes 1.5% CPU for the app, and another 0.7% CPU for a background process. And the CPU on this PC is a less powerful and older Intel Core i7 gen 8. App version is 7.32.3.0. I got this version just a few hours ago. It might be an older version on the affected PC.
Silly question, but what’s the latest version? I checked the affected PC now. I had version 7.32.2.0, installed 16 Jan. Now I have version 7.32.3.0, installed 21 Jan. After another reboot, it’s no longer asking for permission to run a background process, and it works fine now. Using no more than 4%, including app and the background process.
I checked it now. It’s disabled. I recently renewed my subscription and decided to get a plan that included Threat Protection, but I almost never use any of the features. I sometimes activate ad and tracker blocker for specific use cases.
Network activity was 0 Kbps, you can see it in the second screenshot. But yes, I think it was acting up after an update. I had version 7.32.2.0, installed 16 Jan. Now I have version 7.32.3.0, installed 21 Jan. After another reboot, it’s no longer asking for permission to run a background process, and it works fine now. Using no more than 4%, including app and the background process.
Display Driver Uninstaller? That is interesting. But weirder things thn that have happened in the computing world. Glad you fixed it! So until you reinstalled the drivers, the issue was consistently there? Even after rebooting the system? Do you know what version of NordVPN app that was? My problem appears to be related to an update, and the most recent update which is 7.32.3.0 on Windows has fixed the issue.
I agree, it depends on the computer too. That’s why I posted the second screenshot where my CPU can be seen: AMD Ryzen 3600X. It’s not a Pentium. It should not be struggling with NordVPN.
I don’t think this has anything to do with TikTok. I suspect they were doing some telemetry, running diagnostic tests to figure out who has the DNS issue I reported about earlier and who doesn’t.
Update from the NordVPN team:
The issue should now be resolved now. However, some users may still encounter this problem if their apps fail to fetch the remote configuration. This could occur for users in restricted countries or on restricted networks.
Notice, “remote configuration”. I’m sure they can run telemetric diagnostics, just as they can do “remote configuration”. There is almost no commercial app in current existance on the two platforms (Windows and MacOS) that can’t and doesn’t do telemetry. You agree to that when you install and run it. You don’t own the app. You simply borrow it so you can connect and use the VPN service. You hardly own the computer or the copy of Windows that runs on it anymore. We have moved away from owning software, to subscribing to software at a monthly or yearly fee. VPN services are no exception in this.
Same for me. Usually! It’s less than 3% or 4%. Depending on what CPU it is and on what PC. It’s currently at 1.2% for background process, and 1.3% for the app frontend, or 2.5% in total, at idle and without connection, on a PC with Intel Core i7-8700.
Yeah, I thought my issue was over with the new update. Now it’s back again! It’s at 13% for app and 4% for background process, and it’s climbing! It’s a runaway train! Goh… where does it end…
It went from 81% (combined app and background process) on one version (can’t remember the number now, but it’s posted in one of my comments) to the normal 4% in the next version, and now it’s back at 17% in the same version and seems to be climbing.
I renewed my subscription last month actually. So I’ll have to suck it up and deal with it for another 12 + 4 months. They gave me a 4 month bonus. So my susbcription will expire in early 2027. I was looking at some alternatives, and found Surfshark as a compelling option. But then I found they are owned by the same holding company since some time ago. So I just renewed NordVPN.
I don’t know what the situation is with their US IPs, but they seem to often have issues with DNS. I’m hearing only now that the long standing issue that was with Google Search may have been caused by DNS. Google was not letting me do the “google” while connected to NordVPN. They would ask me to verify I’m human. This went on for several months and was the biggest PITA connection problem since I started using NordVPN in 2017.
The thing is… I think… what it really comes down to these days when you use a VPN is… have they been compromised yet? I mean if we put the client app issues aside. I can use OpenVPN client app to set up NordVPN if I want to, and expect much better stability and performance from that app. But there is a bigger issue now! Does the VPN provider of your choice still have an IP pool that has not been compromised?
We are globally seeing enshitification of VPN services, where when enough people use and abuse premium VPN services that promise immunity (no logs, no tracking, etc.) to break policies, regulations and even laws, then you start seeing the other side retaliate by blocking a whole range of IPs and ASNs. So even if you don’t do any of the shady or illegal stuff online, you are sharing the same IPs as people that do. So it may be better to pay for a private VPN IP address. But then you single yourself out and stand out like a black sheep in a hurd of white sheep. It may not be good for anonymity. And you can’t afford to have many hand-picked and reserved VPN IP addresses in different countries to circumvent geo-restrictions (one of benefits and use cases of VPN), so you may stick to one or maybe two or three. So the whole system becomes a lot less flexible, and the promise of VPN is degraded.
In the end, it’s no better than using your ISP provided IP and connecting to websites securely over HTTPS (and none of the major websites use the insecure HTTP anymore). For total anonymity you have to turn to Tor or something like that. But this may not work very well for a lot of the services on the surface web. So… pick your poison.
