The quest to re-enable legacy permissions... - Nexus One Android Development

Okay, digging deep into Android's source.... not for the feint of heart, and not for those whose coding skills are somewhere just above, "Hello, world!" (Me)
Here's the deal. We all know, with Froyo, Google disabled task killers. No app can kill another app. I for one am happy, because killing all apps when your screen goes off is stupid, pointless, and all kinds of harmful. Well, happy but for one little thing....
Killing other apps still does have a purpose! Specifically, in my case, I want to replace my long-press home option with a cool app switcher that also gives me the ability to kill a running app if I know I am done with it for the day and it refuses to die naturally. I'm sure there are other legitimate uses for it, such as killing everything before a benchmark. Sure, these are very specific, uncommon uses, but a thousand apps on the Market exist for specific, uncommon uses, and I think that most hackers/modders with su here would know better than to let a task killer run rampant. Anyone wanna discuss re-enabling this on 2.2?
Edit: I should correct myself. I keep saying "app," what I mean is "service." I know you can still stop (most) apps, but not services. Which keeps a lot of apps running, despite your best efforts. Forgive me for misusing the words

wait task managers dont actually kill in 2.2? This is news to me, as one I have downloaded seems to work fine..

stuff said:
wait task managers dont actually kill in 2.2? This is news to me, as one I have downloaded seems to work fine..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ditto.......

stuff said:
wait task managers dont actually kill in 2.2? This is news to me, as one I have downloaded seems to work fine..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Taskiller will show the app was killed. I'm sure many others will too. But kill an app, then go to Settings>Applications>Manage Applications>Running, and you'll see that it's still running.
Edit: I should correct myself. I keep saying "app," what I mean is "service." I know you can still stop (most) apps, but not services. Which keeps a lot of apps running, despite your best efforts. Forgive me for misusing the words.

Forgive the obvious question but can't the services just be killed by a root request/process? If so, creating an interface for this should be easy as pants.
Of course, root is required but that shouldn't be a constraint.

djmcnz said:
Forgive the obvious question but can't the services just be killed by a root request/process? If so, creating an interface for this should be easy as pants.
Of course, root is required but that shouldn't be a constraint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. But wouldn't it make more sense to allow the dozens of non-root apps that already exist to do this, rather than have to re-write an app that does the exact same thing, but has to use su? It would be safer, too. Running everything as root all the time runs contrary to the whole idea of Linux. It's better to give apps the permissions they need, rather than give everything unlimited power.

carnegie0107 said:
True. But wouldn't it make more sense to allow the dozens of non-root apps that already exist to do this, rather than have to re-write an app that does the exact same thing, but has to use su? It would be safer, too. Running everything as root all the time runs contrary to the whole idea of Linux. It's better to give apps the permissions they need, rather than give everything unlimited power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I see. It might be useful but that's the essence of the Froyo changes... it can't be done now without root. You've have to compromise the security model... probably not a feasible route...

I think you are mistaken, maybe in Manage Applications it still shows it as "stoppable", however... I just did a test.
1. Opened DDMS on my PC.
2. Took note of an app to test with (speedtest) that was currently running.
3. Opened Advanced Task Manager.
4. Killed speedtest with task manager and watched it disappear from the running process list in DDMS.
Obviously ATM was able to kill the task. And, just so you know, it did not start running again. Also, it was removed from the "Running" tab in Manage Applications, so you are double wrong.
And, in case you were going to further the argument that you meant to say "Services", I just killed the PhoneFusion VM service with ATM, and it was removed from the running process list in DDMS.

djmcnz said:
Oh, I see. It might be useful but that's the essence of the Froyo changes... it can't be done now without root. You've have to compromise the security model... probably not a feasible route...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or create something that uses su to kill these processes for third-party apps, without the need for them to have su. Similar to superuser apk, but on a more specific level. Or, we could make it even better, and have superuser hand out specific, user-approved permissions, rather than permit root access as a whole to any app.
Apparently there's not a lot of interest in this, but I thought it would make an interesting discussion.

Related

[Q] (Rooted) Safe apps to uninstall?

My phone is rooted and i would like to know which apps are safe to uninstall that are slowing down my phone so I can speed it up. ? I have root explore and would like a guide on how to uninstall these apps that are slowing my phone down. Thanks to anyone willing to help.
The answer is in here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1254140
lordmorphous said:
The answer is in here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1254140
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank u uncle fester but there's no answers to my question in that link.
Please see this thread. I wouldn't remove the Package checker apps as noted in this thread. ( PackageChecker.apk [com.oem.packagechecker]
PackageUpdate.apk [com.oem.packageupdate])
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1245381
Try looking here
At the bottom of the OP is a link entitled List of Apps Safe to Remove From Stock ROM. Its there...look again.
Sent from my Dell Streak using xda premium
lordmorphous said:
At the bottom of the OP is a link entitled List of Apps Safe to Remove From Stock ROM. Its there...look again.
Sent from my Dell Streak using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Morpheus you should already know he's partially illiterate, were he not, then he would have been able to find the answer and not be spoon fed from his high chair
Chirunavvutho said:
I wouldn't remove the Package checker apps...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why?
/10char
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Why?
/10char
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Click to collapse
Because, I don't think removing them did any good. Does anyone know what is their exact purpose?
Again, why?
Ok...let me rephrase. Why don't you think removing them did any good?
The apps are listed in the "safe to remove" section of the post as they do not affect the operation of the ROM. If Manii believed those apps shouldn't have been removed, he wouldn't have put them in that list. Regardless of that, if you're going to make a blanket statement that you don't believe those apps should be removed, be expected to provide a better explanation than "because" when someone asks you "why".
Manii likely would know what they are for. Ask him.
They're mainly for ota updating to my knowledge, as custom roms cant ota update they functionally dont do anything.
I've had them uninstalled for a while and i dont believe anything changed.
The only thing that shouldnt be removed that isnt a core android app is dell settings and internet provider.
TheManii said:
They're mainly for ota updating to my knowledge, as custom roms cant ota update they functionally dont do anything.
I've had them uninstalled for a while and i dont believe anything changed.
The only thing that shouldnt be removed that isnt a core android app is dell settings and internet provider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why Dell Settings? I have blindly been removing it from every rom I install.
I cant recall why exactly, i know stageui partially depends on it and something else does in android core.
dell settings and internet providor are the only things in com.dell and not com.oem for a reason
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Again, why?
Ok...let me rephrase. Why don't you think removing them did any good?
The apps are listed in the "safe to remove" section of the post as they do not affect the operation of the ROM. If Manii believed those apps shouldn't have been removed, he wouldn't have put them in that list. Regardless of that, if you're going to make a blanket statement that you don't believe those apps should be removed, be expected to provide a better explanation than "because" when someone asks you "why".
Manii likely would know what they are for. Ask him.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please check the revised list. They are in the possibly not safe to remove zone now.
Manii provided his justification in favor of removing those two apps. I'm waiting for your justification in favor of NOT removing those two apps.
In simpler language, you still have yet to answer my question. Manii placing those apps into a gray area "Possibly Not Safe To Remove" does not render the question invalid.
Most of the list is self-explanitory just by the names:
It falls under:
Stuff you can download outright on market
Non-system apps that are not available on market
StageUI
engineering mode apps
logging apps
the 4 borderline cases
those are:
Calibrator.apk [com.oem.calibrator]
DisplayVersionInfo.apk [com.oem.mode]
PackageChecker.apk [com.oem.packagechecker]
PackageUpdate.apk [com.oem.packageupdate]
Last two are pretty obvious, they're used to ota update, removing it breaks it. Custom roms cant ota update to begin with so it's ok for them. If you're on a stock rom it depends on weither or not you consider being able to ota update important. (updating from recovery mode is something entirely different)
I really dont know what calibrator and displayversioninfo do (besides what their name obviously is), but they're not com.oem.engineeringmode.* so they could be important. But as many roms without them seem to run properly they might not be critical.
I left all 4 in since they dont really take up that much resources (rom wise and ram/cpu wise).
The last com.oem.* app that isnt com.oem.engineeringmode.* is
PreLoadNetworkSettings.apk [com.oem.prenetworksetting]
which is used to load new APNs when switching carriers/sims. If your apn is already properly loaded you COULD remove it, but if you need to auto-load new APNs for whatever reason removing that will break that function
Those 5 apks are every com.oem.* that isnt the mentioned com.oem.engineeringmode.*
Technically you can remove the majority of the apks and the system will still boot, just that every other apk has a defined function and removing it will break that functionality.
ALSO, the list is not and never will be perfect, unless someone on the rom team wants to come forward and document them clearly it's all though trial and error. The borderline cases are the only ones that need any real testing as I know for a fact that the majority of the com.oem.engineeringmode.* apks are never active as dell disabled eng mode in retail roms. You CAN manually activate functionality in them but they're more or less dorment code in the roms.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Manii provided his justification in favor of removing those two apps. I'm waiting for your justification in favor of NOT removing those two apps.
In simpler language, you still have yet to answer my question. Manii placing those apps into a gray area "Possibly Not Safe To Remove" does not render the question invalid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just wouldn't remove them and wouldn't recommend someone to do it if I wasn't comfortable to do so in the first place.
Whatever floats your boat..
What would float my boat is for you to answer my question. There must be a reason behind you saying what you did or else you would not have said it at all.
What is that reason, or do you even have one?
Freeze
If you are worried about it, just use an app freezer, run it a few days with the apps you want off the phone frozen. Then if no ill effects, remove them.
That's what I did.
I was a bit more daring. I simply deleted them and called it a day. I figure that if I truly had an issue I could just run my backup. At worst, reinstall 360.

This app pdroid seems pretty sweet, take control of your apps permissions..

Saw this app called pdroid, allows you to set the permissions apps have(better than other apps like droidwall), probably gonna patch it onto my nook color, but would make even more sense on my phone.. only problem is that for HTC devices it says it requires s-off.(updated: apparently this isn't an issue)
I guess my question would be if anyone would know a way to workaround? It doesn't require root.. I am wondering if there is a way I can patch the rom before I flash it perhaps?
Also, I didn't know that apparently there is a feature that cuts off all network connectivity for selected apps built into cm7.. I'm starting to think I didn't know about 99% of the features cm7 allowed. That is probably why I always went with MIUI.
Anyways, figured I would ask here, or perhaps someone else would think this was interesting, or maybe something like this could be included in future roms. It evidently has a tiny memory footprint, uses little processor, etc.. so don't see what the harm could be. I'll have time to play with it this weekend I am thinking..
Silentbtdeadly said:
Saw this app called pdroid, allows you to set the permissions apps have(better than other apps like droidwall), probably gonna patch it onto my nook color, but would make even more sense on my phone.. only problem is that for HTC devices it says it requires s-off.
I guess my question would be if anyone would know a way to workaround? It doesn't require root.. I am wondering if there is a way I can patch the rom before I flash it perhaps?
Also, I didn't know that apparently there is a feature that cuts off all network connectivity for selected apps built into cm7.. I'm starting to think I didn't know about 99% of the features cm7 allowed. That is probably why I always went with MIUI.
Anyways, figured I would ask here, or perhaps someone else would think this was interesting, or maybe something like this could be included in future roms. It evidently has a tiny memory footprint, uses little processor, etc.. so don't see what the harm could be. I'll have time to play with it this weekend I am thinking..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stericson has an app that has the same features call "Permissions". It doesn't require S-off
Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G using xda premium
This is a solid app. I have it installed
heyodee said:
This is a solid app. I have it installed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which one, pdroid, or permissions?
Chance Ill said:
Stericson has an app that has the same features call "Permissions". It doesn't require S-off
Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw the permissions app when I was looking into it, apparently the way pdroid functions you are less likely to get a force close from apps that you cut permissions off.
I'm not the paranoid type, there are some apps that aren't designed very efficiently that I would cut off features from like wakelock, boot_receive, gps, etc.. and sadly those apps don't show up on the list in the free version(like facebook, I don't want it doing ANYTHING unless I am using it). The pro version might do it, but I'd rather donate to a dev of an app like pdroid that gives you the full features than buy an app hoping the paid version does what the free version doesn't.. 15 minutes just isn't enough time to explore some paid apps.
I'm sure the developer stated it needed s-off in good faith, only recently was it possible to have a boot loader with s-on (unlocked) and be able to have r/w access to /system. Previously s-off would be required for this. I'm sure pdroid will work with a s-on unlocked boot loader, with a rooted system. The only difference between s-on unlocked and s-off is that the radio and boot loader can't be overwritten when not signed from HTC. As far as custom roms and root capabilities are functionally the same.
Silentbtdeadly said:
Which one, pdroid, or permissions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pdroid. and s-off is not a core requirement. If you can flash from recovery, then it's all good.
the only thing I have to decide between now is LBE Privacy Guard or Pdroid
jmhalder said:
I'm sure the developer stated it needed s-off in good faith, only recently was it possible to have a boot loader with s-on (unlocked) and be able to have r/w access to /system. Previously s-off would be required for this. I'm sure pdroid will work with a s-on unlocked boot loader, with a rooted system. The only difference between s-on unlocked and s-off is that the radio and boot loader can't be overwritten when not signed from HTC. As far as custom roms and root capabilities are functionally the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know, I wasn't sure why it would need s-off, but what you said makes total sense..
heyodee said:
pdroid. and s-off is not a core requirement. If you can flash from recovery, then it's all good.
the only thing I have to decide between now is LBE Privacy Guard or Pdroid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well maybe you can share what you know about LBE privacy guard compared to pdroid? I've already spent too much time being distracted from school work the last few days or I would look into it myself.. but in a few days I will have time to mess around with all of this guilt-free.
What rom are you using? I keep seeing people post the flashable zip file patch output in different forums, maybe we could do that here for others who may be using the same rom?
Well maybe you can share what you know about LBE privacy guard compared to pdroid? I've already spent too much time being distracted from school work the last few days or I would look into it myself.. but in a few days I will have time to mess around with all of this guilt-free.
What rom are you using? I keep seeing people post the flashable zip file patch output in different forums, maybe we could do that here for others who may be using the same rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both apps are rock solid.
LBE Privacy Guard does the job nicely, coupled with an intuitive UI, firewall, data monitor...
PDroid, love it. Although compatibility is issue. Requires patch. It however gives extra option in privacy department
Whichever you decide to choose, its a good pick
Currently using Deodex tmobile 1.43.531.3 from this thread
heyodee said:
Both apps are rock solid.
LBE Privacy Guard does the job nicely, coupled with an intuitive UI, firewall, data monitor...
PDroid, love it. Although compatibility is issue. Requires patch. It however gives extra option in privacy department
Whichever you decide to choose, its a good pick
Currently using Deodex tmobile 1.43.531.3 from this thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LBE seems pretty good so far, I like that it allows you to change the permissions of system apps.. and to choose "prompt" when some apps try to access permissions. The only thing I wonder is how the monitoring part will impact battery life, and the only thing I wish it did was allow was a change to the wake lock permission.
The main thing I am trying to accomplish is to cut off communication for certain apps altogether EXCEPT when I use them- facebook, google voice, g+, stuff like that. I also want to cut off the ability for certain apps to wakelock the phone at all, like gtalk(I don't use it at all) and a few others. The fact that some of these services don't allow you to change how they sync or they hold a wakelock I don't want.. I want to change that.
Would pdroid better accomplish what I am trying to do? Does it allow permissions changes of system apps?
Silentbtdeadly said:
LBE seems pretty good so far, I like that it allows you to change the permissions of system apps.. and to choose "prompt" when some apps try to access permissions. The only thing I wonder is how the monitoring part will impact battery life, and the only thing I wish it did was allow was a change to the wake lock permission.
The main thing I am trying to accomplish is to cut off communication for certain apps altogether EXCEPT when I use them- facebook, google voice, g+, stuff like that. I also want to cut off the ability for certain apps to wakelock the phone at all, like gtalk(I don't use it at all) and a few others. The fact that some of these services don't allow you to change how they sync or they hold a wakelock I don't want.. I want to change that.
Would pdroid better accomplish what I am trying to do? Does it allow permissions changes of system apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it is pretty light on battery. pdroid is better with battery from the looks of it. Wake lock is not part of the supported permission for both apps. lbe privacy supports firewall. for gtalk, sign out when not using it. for g+, uncheck it from sync. for Google voice, ... dunno yet
pdroid allows you to set permission of system apps
heyodee said:
it is pretty light on battery. pdroid is better with battery from the looks of it. Wake lock is not part of the supported permission for both apps. lbe privacy supports firewall. for gtalk, sign out when not using it. for g+, uncheck it from sync. for Google voice, ... dunno yet
pdroid allows you to set permission of system apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've turned off sync on g+ and voice, signed out of gtalk.. but I'm trying to eliminate any wakelocks on these apps I rarely or never use. The biggest wakelock every time is the alarm sys, if I do a "dumpsys alarm > alarm.txt" in terminal, many of these apps are still keeping the phone from sleeping right..
Ultimately, I am probably trying to beat a dead horse, I got things tweaked to the point I'll never really have to worry about killing my battery in a day, but it seems like one of the features of us android users(or maybe it is xda users).. we want TOTAL control over what our phones do and don't do, lol.
LBE was heavy on my battery and Permissions Denied's interface is not intuitive enough.
I'd like to give PDroid a try but which patch to use for HTC Amaze? (beastmod 2.2.0)
jjane45 said:
LBE was heavy on my battery and Permissions Denied's interface is not intuitive enough.
I'd like to give PDroid a try but which patch to use for HTC Amaze? (beastmod 2.2.0)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using LBE since it was recommended to me.. and even though I don't see any wakelocks caused by it, and IT reduced the wakelocks other apps on the phone would cause, by battery life has degraded majorly. It is a cool app, but rather than get 24+ hours on a light use day, I have been getting at most 14 with barely any use. It may be because I have it monitoring my data use, so I may continue using it after I turn off monitoring to see if that is the draining part.
To answer your question, based on how I read the thread.. one of the downloads in the thread is used to CREATE the patch(and remover) which you can then flash and/or share with others.
PDroid is the only one I haven't tried yet, so think I'm gonna remove LBE and give it a try. One of these apps will surely give me control over these other apps, without being a bigger pain than those other apps.
Did you give PDroid a try and have any success with the Amaze?
If so, it would be great to share the patch.
I've been using LBE, avoiding the re-flash to deodex / Zipalign, for now, and it seems like its pretty good / handles system apps pretty well but I'd think about running both in tandem to cover what each doesn't do. Hmm

Stock task killer too aggressive

My built in task killer is being super aggressive recently. When I first had the phone, pressing the "Clear RAM" closed around 5-10 applications and left me with ~350-400MB of used RAM. I installed system tuner pro (which is now uninstalled), but ever since I had installed it, my task killer is now closing 20+ applications, and my used RAM is getting down to 200-250MB. I can never get it down to "0 applications closed" anymore and the lowest I got was "3 applications closed" over and over again.
Normally, I wouldn't really care so much, but what I'm getting annoyed with is that doing that seems to disable NoLED and I suspect it's messing with SetCPU. SetCPU shows 702/192 on the widget, which is what I had it set to, but if I open SetCPU, I see 1836/192 at the top, but the scrollers are still 702/192. Anyone know what the heck is going on?
jjc5891 said:
My built in task killer is being super aggressive recently. When I first had the phone, pressing the "Clear RAM" closed around 5-10 applications and left me with ~350-400MB of used RAM. I installed system tuner pro (which is now uninstalled), but ever since I had installed it, my task killer is now closing 20+ applications, and my used RAM is getting down to 200-250MB. I can never get it down to "0 applications closed" anymore and the lowest I got was "3 applications closed" over and over again.
Normally, I wouldn't really care so much, but what I'm getting annoyed with is that doing that seems to disable NoLED and I suspect it's messing with SetCPU. SetCPU shows 702/192 on the widget, which is what I had it set to, but if I open SetCPU, I see 1836/192 at the top, but the scrollers are still 702/192. Anyone know what the heck is going on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you set System Tuner Pro back to default before uninstalling?
How would i do that? I just reinstalled it and i dont see any options like that...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Seriously, how many times do people have to reiterate that task killers are NOT NEEDED?
khaytsus said:
Seriously, how many times do people have to reiterate that task killers are NOT NEEDED?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
he's talking about the built in one
The built in one doesn't auto kill. Or does it ?!
lowspeed said:
The built in one doesn't auto kill. Or does it ?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it doesn't.
My problem is that the stock task manger kills my alarm clock & battery widget. Which I really need....
Ever since I have swtiched to Advanced Task Manger and I honestly love it over the stock one. I even set it to auto kill when I turn off the screen.
DRamer77 said:
he's talking about the built in one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read the OP. My statement stands. Auto, built-in, or third party, task killers are more harm than good.
khaytsus said:
I read the OP. My statement stands. Auto, built-in, or third party, task killers are more harm than good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And yet still remain necessary for malfunctioning apps or those that stay running even when you back out of them and consume way too many resources, harming your battery life. C:Geo is my example. It doesn't always shut down properly and likes to drain my battery when I'm not using it unless I force quit it.
Another good example: Voxer likes to get "stuck" almost constantly. Only way to fix it is by force quitting and starting it up again.
While I agree that users shutting down apps constantly with a task manager to clear RAM does more harm than good, they still have their purpose and are a handy thing to have on any phone OS.
johnus said:
And yet still remain necessary for malfunctioning apps or those that stay running even when you back out of them and consume way too many resources, harming your battery life. C:Geo is my example. It doesn't always shut down properly and likes to drain my battery when I'm not using it unless I force quit it.
Another good example: Voxer likes to get "stuck" almost constantly. Only way to fix it is by force quitting and starting it up again.
While I agree that users shutting down apps constantly with a task manager to clear RAM does more harm than good, they still have their purpose and are a handy thing to have on any phone OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the answer to OP is then to stop hitting the "Clear Ram" button.
Honestly, What is the point of a phone having this much ram, if you aren't going to let apps use it?
When you hit the home button, what android does is save the current state of that app and lays it to rest in the ram. When you go back to that app, it will pull it from the ram and bring it back from that state.
The app is not running in the background unless it's intended too.
So johnus is right. If an app gets stuck, or it is using your cpu and there is no real way to close it, that's what an app killer is really meant for.
Case closed now?
FlukiestEmperor said:
So the answer to OP is then to stop hitting the "Clear Ram" button.
Honestly, What is the point of a phone having this much ram, if you aren't going to let apps use it?
When you hit the home button, what android does is save the current state of that app and lays it to rest in the ram. When you go back to that app, it will pull it from the ram and bring it back from that state.
The app is not running in the background unless it's intended too.
So johnus is right. If an app gets stuck, or it is using your cpu and there is no real way to close it, that's what an app killer is really meant for.
Case closed now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I notice an issue with the task manager and you're basically suggesting I ignore it by not using very function I want to use?? That makes no sense and offers no solution to the problem whatsoever. I understand the concept of RAM and how it's used; I'm not new to this. The answer to my question is NOT to simply not use it
jjc5891 said:
So I notice an issue with the task manager and you're basically suggesting I ignore it by not using very function I want to use?? That makes no sense and offers no solution to the problem whatsoever. I understand the concept of RAM and how it's used; I'm not new to this. The answer to my question is NOT to simply not use it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it is... Samsung goofed up by not letting you select items to ignore.
Just use something else if you must.
jjc5891 said:
So I notice an issue with the task manager and you're basically suggesting I ignore it by not using very function I want to use?? That makes no sense and offers no solution to the problem whatsoever. I understand the concept of RAM and how it's used; I'm not new to this. The answer to my question is NOT to simply not use it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some people just think their logic is law and their needs are the same as everybody. I use task manager for several things. Many that the previous poster mentioned and others. I'm sorry open but I can offer no assistance as I've never wandered past the stock task manager. But I will follow this thread as I am interested in the functions you mentioned.
lowspeed said:
Well it is... Samsung goofed up by not letting you select items to ignore.
Just use something else if you must.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well samsung goofed up with the black crush issue also, but that doesn't mean I should stop using youtube, netflix or viewing black photos on my phone. With that kind of logic, lets just tell every to just stop using their phones because bugs are always going to exist everywhere, but there's no reason to fix it, because no one will ever use an app that's not perfect...right?
jjc5891 said:
Well samsung goofed up with the black crush issue also, but that doesn't mean I should stop using youtube, netflix or viewing black photos on my phone. With that kind of logic, lets just tell every to just stop using their phones because bugs are always going to exist everywhere, but there's no reason to fix it, because no one will ever use an app that's not perfect...right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about this... Instead of complaining here. Call samsung?
What do you want people to do ?
lowspeed said:
How about this... Instead of complaining here. Call samsung?
What do you want people to do ?
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Click to collapse
If you're not going to help, then don't bother posting. Not everyone likes to ignore problems
Seeing as this is a developers forum, how about we all work together and find an actual solution to the problem, instead of these mickey mouse suggestions?
Is there any way to prevent the phone from killing the browser?
roperband said:
Is there any way to prevent the phone from killing the browser?
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Click to collapse
I am wondering this as well this phone just closes down all kinds of apps. I know android closes apps when it needs the space but this phones is constantly closing my apps I want to keep open.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium

Super N00b with some basic questions GAAHH! :)

Hello,
I was told this is the place to come for everything related Galaxy S III from several people. Please excuse me if this is the wrong place or section.
I'm completely new to the Galaxy 3 and Android in general.
I'm on sprint and I've had the Palm Pre since launch, I just got my GS3 yesterday (amazon $149 no tax, free 2 day shipping) :victory:
As you can imagine coming form the Pre, my mind is blown. It's a bit overwhelming, I'm a pretty tech-savvy dude (pre was hacked to its limits) so I down to tinker. But before I even get started with that I have some basic questions.
1. Is there a way to only use a password unlock once per phone power-on instead of every time the screen locks?
1a Even better would be able to use a simple pin for screen unlock but still have the SD/Internal encrypted with a long password. Is that possible?
2. When I press back, how do I know if an app has been killed? I keep getting the feeling it still somehow running in the background?
3. Is the application manager like the Windows process manager? How do I know what are essential system apps and what can be stopped?
4. What is the best way to get rid of bloatware?
5. What are the diffrent system updates? PRL, Profile, Samsung Software, Firmware?
6. Why is there "com.sec.sprextension.phoneinfo.D..." under Device administrator? Do I need that? Is that a security hole/risk?
Again, sorry for so many questions, just trying to wrap my head around all of this. If there is a better place to be asking question please let me know.
Look forward to being part of the community! :highfive:
BR
1) not by default, maybe an app could aid there, not sure, but on stock "out of the box" the answer is "no"
1a) nope, if you want to use encryption, it's password all the way
2) Settings -> Application Manager -> "Running" tab
3) Kind of. It also warns you when you try to kill off a system app, but you can't really damage anything by doing that. I tend to kill just everything I don't want at the moment (which is usually everything but the widgets and app I am intentionally running) and all is well.
Stuff that REALLY needs to run, restarts automatically anyways (and some that don't have to, do as well....)
4) Settings -> Application Manager -> All -> Tap on app -> "Disable"
5) You will find an uncountable number of ROMs / Firmwares here. Stock as well as custom. What the best one is, is personal preference.
6) might be something added by the carrier. try to disable it, see what happens
7) ( ) .... ( ) whoops, no 7 xD
Hope that helped a bit
I'm on sprint and I've had the Palm Pre since launch, I just got my GS3 yesterday
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You most certainly are in the wrong forum. This one is for the international S3 which doesn't feature LTE. There's a Sprint forum right above/below this one =)
Is there a way to only use a password unlock once per phone power-on instead of every time the screen locks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would make password unlock more or less redundant. Anyone could still access the phone.
When I press back, how do I know if an app has been killed? I keep getting the feeling it still somehow running in the background?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're correct. Well, partially. It's still "alive" in terms of being in the memory. But it doesn't use CPU anymore which is all that counts.
However you don't want to kill it. Cached processes take up no space (the RAM is emptyed whenever the capacity is needed), no resources and allow you to multi-task right back to where you left off.
Is the application manager like the Windows process manager? How do I know what are essential system apps and what can be stopped?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't want to stop anything. Refer to the prior question for this. Well... you may want to kick off some bloatware but to get rid of thm the phone needs to be rooted. There are threads listing which apps you can safely remove.
What is the best way to get rid of bloatware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As said, you need to be rooted. Use TItanium Backup to freeze the bloatware. It's still physically "there" on the disk (doesn't take up much space) and you can defrost it whenever needed but as long as it's frozen it cannot be started.
What are the diffrent system updates? PRL, Profile, Samsung Software, Firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
App updates are always delivered through their corresponding market. Usually the Google Play Store, but as for Samsung apps they have their own update mechanism.
Firmware and ROM are updated either OTA or through Kies on the computer. They can also be manually flashed through Odin.
"com.sec.sprextension.phoneinfo
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Click to collapse
Sounds like some carrier bloatware and from the name of it is supposed to open some file extension called '.spr' for the phone.
Thank you for the info! Mods could you please move to correct forum?

Infected with malware?

Hi.
My girlfriend has a Samsung Galaxy S II that has been acting a bit weird recently. Battery life has become extremely short, and she discovered hundreds of files all with names beginning with "tracker-c6446d57267343". Most mysterious of all is that something is somehow using the GPS even though it has been deactivated in the settings.
I'm suspecting her phone is infected with malware, and I'm planning to do a full wipe next time we meet. She's downloading AVG from Google Play right now to run a scan, but I'm going to do a full wipe anyway just to be sure and because she wants to have a clean start anyway.
I'm mostly curious if anyone has encountered this before. Is it malware? If so, how harmful is it? Keylogger, possibly?
Thanks.
CNMOH said:
Hi.
My girlfriend has a Samsung Galaxy S II that has been acting a bit weird recently. Battery life has become extremely short, and she discovered hundreds of files all with names beginning with "tracker-c6446d57267343". Most mysterious of all is that something is somehow using the GPS even though it has been deactivated in the settings.
I'm suspecting her phone is infected with malware, and I'm planning to do a full wipe next time we meet. She's downloading AVG from Google Play right now to run a scan, but I'm going to do a full wipe anyway just to be sure and because she wants to have a clean start anyway.
I'm mostly curious if anyone has encountered this before. Is it malware? If so, how harmful is it? Keylogger, possibly?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow, first post for ya huh? good for you.
dont waste your time with AVG. just wipe the phone. and tell her not to install a bunch of stupid apps.
BluePoint Antivirus is my personal fave
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SII
CM9 Stable/Siyah 4.1
topiratiko said:
BluePoint Antivirus is my personal fave
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SII
CM9 Stable/Siyah 4.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmao. anti virus on android. you guys are funny!
U know its pointless right?
MotoMudder77 said:
Lmao. anti virus on android. you guys are funny!
U know its pointless right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. It is. Odds are someone installed an app on yer girlfriends phone to be able to track her, tape pictures with the camera remotely, steal her credit card info, use the mic to record what's going on , etc. All of this can be achieved with ONE app and allows the person who installed it to remotely access the device. Also the app hides itself from detection in the app drawer and in the app manager . The legal reasons to install it are for if u lose your phone. But if someone got a hold of her phone they could easily have put this on and set it up within minutes. In other words. Someone can hear and see everything she's been doing.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
Phalanx7621 said:
Exactly. It is. Odds are someone installed an app on yer girlfriends phone to be able to track her, tape pictures with the camera remotely, steal her credit card info, use the mic to record what's going on , etc. All of this can be achieved with ONE app and allows the person who installed it to remotely access the device. Also the app hides itself from detection in the app drawer and in the app manager . The legal reasons to install it are for if u lose your phone. But if someone got a hold of her phone they could easily have put this on and set it up within minutes. In other words. Someone can hear and see everything she's been doing.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
I'm finding it highly unlikely that any of her friends would do something like that, not to mention that none of them have the technical know-how (yes, I know it's not hard, but none of her friends are even technologically adept to pull something like this off) to do it. If such malware has been installed on her phone, it most likely came bundled with some app she downloaded. She doesn't get all her app downloads from Google Play.
MotoMudder77 said:
Lmao. anti virus on android. you guys are funny!
U know its pointless right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the way it looks on my status bar.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SII
CM9 Stable/Siyah 4.1
CNMOH said:
I'm finding it highly unlikely that any of her friends would do something like that, not to mention that none of them have the technical know-how (yes, I know it's not hard, but none of her friends are even technologically adept to pull something like this off) to do it. If such malware has been installed on her phone, it most likely came bundled with some app she downloaded. She doesn't get all her app downloads from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no such thing as malware on android. everything you install tells you what it has access to.
The only thing like malware, would be an application that records stuff and sends it out, which would be listed when she installed the app, Tho im sure most rarely pay attention to that screen other than hitting install.
There are no viruses, no malware, or anything "hidden" that can attack stuff without your permission.
Wipe the phone. Dont install pirated apps or stupid pointless apps.
MotoMudder77 said:
There is no such thing as malware on android. everything you install tells you what it has access to.
The only thing like malware, would be an application that records stuff and sends it out, which would be listed when she installed the app, Tho im sure most rarely pay attention to that screen other than hitting install.
There are no viruses, no malware, or anything "hidden" that can attack stuff without your permission.
Wipe the phone. Dont install pirated apps or stupid pointless apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Malware can definitely affect android. Sure there are safeguards built in to reduce the chances of it happening, but they rely on the user to enforce them. I can almost guarantee that a majority of android users don't look at what permissions an app is asking for prior to installation. I know for a fact that out of the 5 android users in my house I am the only one that checks permissions before I install anything. In addition, even if one is checking the permissions, a malicious app can easily disguise itself as an everyday app that requires the permissions the Malware needs but would be overlooked because the host app has a valid reason for needing those permissions.
A dialer, email, sms, social networking app will all ask for access to your contacts. And it's necessary for that app to do its job. Well if that same app has unlimited access to your network then it can now take your contacts and upload them.
Now a virus is another thing all together. While it's possible on a rooted phone with rw permissions in the system directory, it's unlikely since most apps exist in a "sandbox" so to speak. It wouldn't be that difficult for a root explorer app to gain access to your /system directory and wreak havoc and then target your sdcard and wipe out your data. But not before uploading whatever it wants (a lot of explorers require network permissions for cloud service, etc). But then I guess that would be classified as malware and not a virus
And lets not leave out all the apps that use social networks to login..
But the last two Lines of your post say it all. Stay away from pirated apps and watch what 3rd party apps you're trusting these permissions with.

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