hi all are they really needed and if so which is the best for me to buy
Are they needed? YES ! There is full of android malware out there ! +472% growth (jul-nov 2011) up and counting since the market is very profitable...
Which is the best for you to buy? I give you an abstract of what I found in the following pdf and some blog I read around...
the % is the detection rate
Kaskperky (paid) 50%
F-Secure's Mobile Security (paid) 50%
Antivirus free (free) 0% - 0 %
Bluepoint (free) 1% - 10 %
Kinetoo (free) 6% - 10%
...
Zoner (free) 32% - 80%
I leave you with a very nice reading on topic:
http://www.av-test.org/fileadmin/pdf/avtest_2011-11_free_android_virus_scanner_english.pdf
I don't feel they're needed. I look at it the same way I do with my computer. I've never had an antivirus program and I've never had a virus. IMO they're for people who don't have common sense about what they should and should not be downloading/installing.
I only install trust apps, some of antivirus apps will turn down performance.
Yea they kinda affect the performance for me too. And lookout never detected any kind of virus for me at all.
Wud definitely like to know more abt this.
No, they aren't needed. If you blindly download apps in the market, specifically "Random hot girl sexy" apps, you might want to. But malware doesn't magically appear on your phone, YOU put it there. Download trusted apps from trusted devs and you will always be fine.
That said, I do use Lookout primarily for the GPS tracking.
Sent from my T-mobile G2 using Tapatalk
I'm actually using Lookout Mobile but it never found any virus or malware but i'm scary that someday i get infected just because i wasn't with an antivirus
I think Anti virus programs are not required for android phones, as it just uses resources (data, ram, processing power etc).
You'll be fine without them as long as you're careful
I've been using my Android mobile without anti-virus for about 9 months now, but never had a virus.
I always thought about it this way. Free options are better than nothing, especially when they offer other services like lost phone wipeing or tracking. Yeah you could go your whole life without ever getting a virus. However, it has been proven they exist. So why risk it? You wouldn't sleep with a strange person without protection, don't let trust your phone to strange apps without some sort of protection. And on newer phones, the dip in resources is usually nill. So again, why gamble when you don't have to...
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
When the user is careful antivirus is not need is what everyone is saying but...is there even a single instance of a malware being detected properly? Or has everyone been really that careful!!
hmm, i thought i should install antivirus on my device, look like the virus on android is growing
Just uninstalled my lookout cuz it was eating way too much ram.
not needed. you get a virus (IF), reset to factory
No their not needed....slows the phone dramatically, your never going to get a virus on your phone that will eat away at your files....or render it unusable. The worst you will get is a bit of malware, if that happens, factory reset....problem solved
Sent from my Sensation 4g using xda premium
if you know what you're doing and pretty confident of yourself then i dont think you will need it. but if you dont know what youre doing or for the sake of protecting your phone then i think you do need. mistakes are unavoidable and its better to play safe.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
In that case can someone suggest an antivirus that runs light?
Hello everyone;
I don't know about your devices; but i think it's needed.
Well; 1st we all know that each day we offer our privacy to several companies; so they can profit somehow.
Anyways i like to keep my stuff clean. I rooted my device after buying it.
As some may know there's and app to root; that installs the Super User on the device. For my surprise after rooting my Anti Virus gave me 2 warnings. (I use Zoner as it doesn't slow my device "drastically" as you say. To tell the truth i dont feel any difference).
Seems like the Super User had a virus or something else. I Removed the Super User with Zone and instaled from the Android Market and so far... I'm Clean!!!
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
Better safe than sorry
Got zoner antivirus free. Tested others, this one used the least amount of course, ram is debatable and didn't take a toll on start up times.
Related
I would prefer not to use one, but i am worried data stealing apps or ones that cost you money by making phone calls or texts.
There seems to be lots of free and payed ones around.
The battery life on the SGS2 is bad enough without extra software running in the background if i don't need it.
thanks
John.
Nope but some like to .
jje
I've been using Android for quite a while now and would say it's not necessary at all.
As long as you're diligent in checking app permissions before installing anything you're not gonna have any problems. It's also a good idea to read through a few of the reviews on the market for any given app before installing to see if any other users are having any problems/concerns with it.
I'm using lookout, wouldnt say it uses much battery really. Never found anything yet though that is hopefully a good thing
Silver420 said:
I'm using lookout, wouldnt say it uses much battery really. Never found anything yet though that is hopefully a good thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here. I've been using lookout for both malware protection and device locator
I should activate the device locator really
Using lbe privacy guard and i like it alot,dont need antivirus
i'm using COMMON SENSE 2012
and never had a problem with it (0% battery drain!).
I did my first ROM and battery update with NonS3ns3 V2.0. All went fine.
I was surprised to see less than 200MB of memory free after the upgrade. I thought one of the benefits of this ROM was that I would be seeing closer to 300 MB of memory free.
I am not using ADW. Currently I have Go Launcher for my front end. Could that be the issue?
Any suggestions?
swieder711 said:
I did my first ROM and battery update with NonS3ns3 V2.0. All went fine.
I was surprised to see less than 200MB of memory free after the upgrade. I thought one of the benefits of this ROM was that I would be seeing closer to 300 MB of memory free.
I am not using ADW. Currently I have Go Launcher for my front end. Could that be the issue?
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unused memory is wasted memory. The goal is to use as much as possible while keeping a reserve free for any app that might be opened.
Go launcher is not the issue. I have near 350-400mb on boot with CM7 and I use it (and it's set to stay in memory).
However, as stated previously, if you're not using your ram it's going to waste and I still wouldnt' care if I only had 200mb free. It's not like on windows where you have to start closing stuff to get the ram back. If you start running out, it'll just start closing apps you're not using for you. I wouldn't worry about it. As much as my ram miser instincts want to kick in (because I started out on computers when 8-16mb of ram was a lot ), I just tell that urge to STFU because it's a dumb idea.
I usually have about 240MB free right after boot and that quickly dwindles down to about 140MB to 160MB. That really is plenty for just about anything you're going to make the phone do at any particular moment. When you think about it, an entire Sense ROM couldn't fill all the memory available, much less AOSP. There's caches and other files taking up the rest of the space, which is good because that's less data pulled from eMMC. Addressing eMMC eat a lot of power. Some of the kernel devs have some good info on how their kernels work and how to tweak them to free up more or less memory. It is possible to script the kernel to much more aggressively free up memory, but typically that will hurt performance.
Thanks for the replies. I am new to Android (2 weeks) so still trying to figure out a few things. I am coming from the old school where more free memory was always a good thing so that new apps would start faster.
I am really surprised by how many apps are running in the background on there own such as Whitepages, News, XDA, Weather, Amazon App store, My Verizon, etc. Why are all these apps running? I cant see why the Amazon App store app needs to be running unless I am using it.
I have seen some tools that can be set up to automatically kill some of these apps. Is it worth it? Which one do you reccommend?
I use this and its fantastic. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=991276
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium
swieder711 said:
Thanks for the replies. I am new to Android (2 weeks) so still trying to figure out a few things. I am coming from the old school where more free memory was always a good thing so that new apps would start faster.
I am really surprised by how many apps are running in the background on there own such as Whitepages, News, XDA, Weather, Amazon App store, My Verizon, etc. Why are all these apps running? I cant see why the Amazon App store app needs to be running unless I am using it.
I have seen some tools that can be set up to automatically kill some of these apps. Is it worth it? Which one do you reccommend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazon apps, in general, are abuse to resources. Not sure what to tell you about killing it, because killing it is just going to make it restart again, and that's going to eat more battery than letting it just suck up space.
It's not so much the apps on Amazon as the Amazon App itself and how they implement things. Amazon has some crappy DRM for their apps (if the developer decides they want it). Basically means it checks a lot to see if you're online and allowed to use the application (but does so way more than it needs). Some apps have problems or did with working in airplane mode because of that.
It also thinks you have a new phone nearly 100% of the time when you flash a new rom or update your current one. You can log into your amazon account on your PC and find out how many "phones" you have under your account settings for their apps. Each added phone basically causes the app to flip out more and cause more problems, so deleting the extra ones is a good idea.
Other apps will not work without the Amazon store installed, which is a poorly coded piece of crap as well that won't work if you try to modify the contents of the apk.
Also, a lot of those apps running in the background are not really taking up resources, they're just keeping a bare minimum loaded into memory and the rest is cached. They do that so they can load up quickly (like the browser, maps, etc).
I've been on BAMF forever for a few days now, and I typically have only 90-100MB of free RAM. It has been absolutely smooth as can be with no lag. I can open an app, use it for a bit, and then hit home so I can open another app to check on something, and the first app stays in memory just as it should.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
Thanks for the feedback. I have removed Amazon from my Tbolt.
It still bothers me to see all those other apps being loaded in the background without asking first. It's like my 17 yo daughter leaving her stuff around the house. It just seems disrespectful of the common spaces.
swieder711 said:
Thanks for the feedback. I have removed Amazon from my Tbolt.
It still bothers me to see all those other apps being loaded in the background without asking first. It's like my 17 yo daughter leaving her stuff around the house. It just seems disrespectful of the common spaces.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you'll get used to it. just pretend they're not really open (well most really aren't open, so I guess you dont totally have to pretend, haha)
Hi iam new to this forum.. sorry if it is not the right section to post this .
i want some free anti theft and anti virus softwares for Samsung galaxy s3 (which i got today ). iam new to android so please guide me. and also pls suggest me some useful hints regarding mobile maintenance. :silly:
(This should be moved to the Q&A forum)
Hey,
welcome to XDA forums.
A good experience I made with so far is avast as it provides some extra options besides antivirus, e.g. firewall to block certain apps to establish an internet connection, block certain calls (S3 has this now built in as native option however) etc.
Lookout on the other hand appeared rather bulky and not all features are free.
Yet the best part of avast is the anti theft feature (works also as standalone). It can be completely stealth and works with SMS commands. It especially benefits from rooted phones as that offers more options (e.g. full stealth, survives factory reset) but root isn't mandatory.
And it's all free of charge.
thank you for the reply...
i have few more doubts about the rooting..
1. how many rooting methods are there and which is the best and easy.
2.will i get official updates (like OTA i think) to rooted devicees.
3.iam very much confused abt the procedures explained in internet (i dont know much abt phone in depth...) pls explain the best rooted method.
and in the past hours with my mobile i noticed the battery drain... ie. within 7hrs 100% battery comes to 60's and 58% or so. is it normal?.i recharged. now what i have to do.
i just rooted my device... with no problems. thanks to the guide you people provided. but i have small issue regarding the avast anti-theft setup. i attached the screen shot of the problem. please guide me.
akhil333 said:
i just rooted my device... with no problems. thanks to the guide you people provided. but i have small issue regarding the avast anti-theft setup. i attached the screen shot of the problem. please guide me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Settings -> Security -> Unknown Sources
I use avast for antivirus and firewall. Lbe for application access. And prey for tracking. Prey is awesome I also watch all my computers with it.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
I'm using WatchDroid for tracking and locking. It is (or at least at the time of buying it was) the only app properly supporting SMS-commands without active data network.
I prefer the (free) Dr.Web beta antivirus but it has less features than Avast.
Here's a rather detailed and independed antivirus test report for Android:
http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/android/
You can see in the PDF that Avast + Dr.Web both rank very high while other common names with good reputation such as AVG and Bitdefender are only good midfield.
You'd be surprised how many seemingly harmless apps are reported as Adware (usually push-notification spammers).
To date I've yet to get a real spy- or malware tough.
I think as long add you check permissions of apps, don't blindly install, you should be OK, I tend to run dr web every 2-3 weeks, I don't want a useless AC app clogging my phone up! for tracking, try phone locator pro, full refund within 24 hours I think, won top awards and far better than any others I've tried, plus support is top notch.
Sent via TCP/IP
Thanks for the replies.
Till now iam good. I installed avast and rooted to enjoy more features.
I also solved my battery drain problm.
But i have a small doubt... in settings>battery>screen is showing 50 - 80% usage. l reduced the brightness and so. Is it normal?If not please tell me the solution. Thanks again for everything.
You should use Appriva cloud antivirus i m using it myself and as far as i know its user friendly and doesn't use much of memory and battery
clydedean said:
You should use Appriva cloud antivirus i m using it myself and as far as i know its user friendly and doesn't use much of memory and battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The op has made a decision rather a long time ago on this subject .
jje
The best and free way of anti malware is HAVING SECURE OF USING YOUR PHONE, SPECIALLY ABOUT GIVING ROOT ACCESS
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
JJEgan said:
The op has made a decision rather a long time ago on this subject .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
woops my bad then :angel:
Best Antivirus for Android
Hi, Im using avast! Free Antivirus and its great. Say goodbye to your paid antivirus, as avast! is totally free and performs even better in tests.
Download and try it yourself:
http://www.avast.com/get/nqLm8eC9
Hi, i'm new here it is my first thread my question is it necessary to install anti-virus app with my DX?
and what is the best battery app for my phone, my phone is rooted and i already flashed a custom rom.
thanks!
sorry for my bad english i'm a filipino
Well, of you're rooted then the best battery app to use is JuiceDefender, and you don't need an antivirus, that's just paranoid...
Sent from my hTC branded muffin
ffs you dont need antivirus on android cause there arent any virus coming in
w1040 said:
ffs you dont need antivirus on android cause there arent any virus coming in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What makes you feel Android is a secure OS, and there "arent any virus coming in"? There have been several trojans for Android, and most users are woefully unaware of permissions and will agree to ANYTHING. Not that it would help if they didn't, considering that the permission system in Android is far from perfect.
As far as "Android is secure" is concerned: Every rooting toolkit proves otherwise. Android is not secure. Whether an anti-virus program will help to remedy this is another issue.
Blauwbilgorgel said:
What makes you feel Android is a secure OS, and there "arent any virus coming in"? There have been several trojans for Android, and most users are woefully unaware of permissions and will agree to ANYTHING. Not that it would help if they didn't, considering that the permission system in Android is far from perfect.
As far as "Android is secure" is concerned: Every rooting toolkit proves otherwise. Android is not secure. Whether an anti-virus program will help to remedy this is another issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no offense im using an android phone for a long time and not even a single virus comes to my phone once.
basically the antivirus app on the market are just scam and a rubbish app. and the paid ones?? lol well they just want to take money from people who thinks an android phone can catch virus like you. (most people already know this fyi)
this is not symbian os. and i have been using a lot of nokia symbian phones now that may true that virus can enter to the OS cause i have catch a lot of virus on my symbian phone a long time ago.
on android? lol not even once
Stereo8 said:
Well, of you're rooted then the best battery app to use is JuiceDefender, and you don't need an antivirus, that's just paranoid...
Sent from my hTC branded muffin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks to all who reply i'm still confuse about AV app for android :/ btw is juicedefender free and ultimate are the same for making my battery last long?
t0per666 said:
thanks to all who reply i'm still confuse about AV app for android :/ btw is juicedefender free and ultimate are the same for making my battery last long?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, JuiceDefender Ultimate is awesomer...but JuiceDefender itself is awesome...
Stereo8 said:
No, JuiceDefender Ultimate is awesomer...but JuiceDefender itself is awesome...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you very much!
R: [Q]anti-virus and battery saver
An anti-virus is good for who download every day from internet apps.
But if you don't download apps from internet with phone an antivirus will decrease you battery life only.
Sent from my HTC Desire X using xda premium
I use 2x battery and One Power Guard 2.5. 2xbatery is just closing my internet conection and wireless when he phone locks. I don't use any task killers.
As for antivirus software I Zoner AntiVirus.
I use Root firewall for the apps that use internet without my consent :cyclops:
doiutzu said:
I use 2x battery and One Power Guard 2.5. 2xbatery is just closing my internet conection and wireless when he phone locks. I don't use any task killers.
As for antivirus software I Zoner AntiVirus.
I use Root firewall for the apps that use internet without my consent :cyclops:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you
Hello everyone
I'm experiencing some problems with my battery being drained rather fast. I'm running one of the latest CM nightlies but my phone is empty after only 11 hours.
I've attached graphs made with Better Battery Stat to this post. My usage to was: The phone didn't leave my house and i didn't use the audio. I used it from time to time to play a game (BounceBall) read a bit on the internet (Chrome) or Reddit (Reddit News).
Despite never moving my phone Google Maps/NetworkLocations seem to be run pretty frequent. How can i disable this? And is there anything else that mgiht be wrong with my phone causing a battery drain?
Thanks in advance
Note maps qnd location services. Disable them and you'll be fine.
Sent from the little guy
gastonw said:
Note maps qnd location services. Disable them and you'll be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do i disable them? Maps is already set to not automatically refresh my loction.
It's in settings somewhere, don't remember, hold on...
Setting/Location services untick away.
Open maps and untick the location options.
Disable all google now options if you don't use it.
Just realized you're on CM, check the ROM thread.
Sent from the little guy
Turn off google now thats doing it not google maps.
Yes, google now as well.
Sent from the little guy
i'd strongly recommend also to use Juice Defender in agressive mode on. With that, your data connection will be enabled every 30min instead of being always on in the background... this saves me a lot of battery as well.
I have upgraded from ICS stock to JB stock and now my battery lasts much less than before. I am considering donwgrading to ICS 4.0.3
Hope it helps.
I'd strongly recommend you don't use Juice Defender. At all. Ever. That app (and similar apps) was designed to hoover money from n00bs who don't know better.
MistahBungle said:
I'd strongly recommend you don't use Juice Defender. At all. Ever. That app (and similar apps) was designed to hoover money from n00bs who don't know better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.....causing more draining than before as a result of the ap itself.
Sent from the little guy
it's a free app, and I've tested with and without, and for me it makes a huge difference. if you never tried before, you should before saying it doesn't work... it's only 3mb and runs only 1 service on the background (around 6mb).
I did try it back when I was using a black wallpaper so I would get better battery life, on GB!
Trust us, you wont save any juice with any of those apps.
Sent from the little guy
gastonw said:
I did try it back when I was using a black wallpaper so I would get better battery life, on GB!
Trust us, you wont save any juice with any of those apps.
Sent from the little guy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was using this with my good and old ZTE Blade and it worked really well. I will try to use my SGS2 without it...
Ok, and please don't install any antiviruses.
This is linux based, not windows
Sent from the little guy
gastonw said:
Ok, and please don't install any antiviruses.
This is linux based, not windows
Sent from the little guy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks this I know. I was using Linux instead of Windows in my PC for some years.
But I have Prey anti-theft installed... hope this is OK. Do you guys have any anti-theft installed?
I don't, should set something like cerebrus up now that you mention it.
Got samsung dive anyway.
I'm also willing to chop the hand of anyone that would try to take the little guy away from me.
Sent from the little guy
JuiceDefender does nothing you can't do yourself, and you'll pay a drain penalty for the (false) 'convenience'.
Prey is as good as it gets so far as those apps are concerned.
Lol, when you start looking into a device you're thinking about getting, when you're new to all of this, you only get the "battery life" part, hence you become obsessed with it.
The crazy thing is that you don't even know how your device behaves until you actually use it without all these apps, but you don't know that, so the first thing you get from play store, it's a juice saver app.
I should know, been there done that.
Sent from the little guy
Unless you read the advice of people who know from experience that these things use more juice than they save before you get your phone (Which is what I did for over a month before I got mine).
I didn't read any of that until I had already bought green power and weren't even using it.
Cool leaf logo tho.
Sent from the little guy
Use greenify (it's a free app) to freeze apps which usually run in your background, like your maps for example. Check out for a better description of the app in play store
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app