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I have an HTC Desire Z, and it's been acting strangely lately. I hear it play the startup sound when it's in my pocket, meaning the phone has crashed when I wasn't even doing anything. I suppose it's time for a hard reset. I'm very reluctant to do this, but when I missed an important call the other day because my "com.htc.phone" (or whatever) application crashed and I didn't notice, that was the last straw.
What is a checklist of things I should do before hard resetting? So far, I've:
1) Backed up SMS
2) Taken screenshots of all my home screens so as to put the icons back in the same place
3) Taken screenshots of the application settings screens so as to install all the same applications again
4) Taken screenshots of some of the other settings screens, so as to use the same ringtone, background, SMS beep, etc.
What are some other steps I should take? I'm scared that I won't get my phone set up the same way again. My phone is great right now, it's just how I like it - except for the crashes.
Is your phone rooted? If so, TitaniumBackup (TB) would be all you need. You can get TitaniumBackup, free and paid, from the market. TB can backup your screen settings according to the launcher apps. For example, I use Go Launcher and when I do a full backup of Go Launcher, it will backup icons positions and everything else that I have changed in Go Launcher.
It may not be necessary to reset your whole device if your just getting one or two processes force closing themselves. The first thing to check is see if you have installed an app that might be conflicting with system apps (try and remember the last time it was working correctly and uninstall apps that you've installed since then).
If this isn't the issue you can also try to wipe app data/cache for the app in question. I hope this makes sense
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Well, I'm not really sure what's causing the problem. My phone came installed with crapware, and lately I've found software installing itself on my phone without my knowledge. I know for a fact the "QQ Security" crapware the phone came with did indeed prevent my phone from functioning correctly.
I think I have got a virus in my phone. Sometimes when I open any link in Chrome, a random popup opens which usually redirects to the play store somewhere. Once I opened 9gag.com and it opened 9gag's play store link. It even happened with android authority blogs that when I interact with the page i.e touch or scroll anywhere, a random ad link just pops up. Not only this but the original page is replaced by a facebook page whose URL contains something about a campaign i.e its ID etc. History shows a website terraclicks.com and google search on terraclicks shows that it's a PC virus.
Not only with Chrome, I even got the same popup while opening a link using facebook's own default internal browser.
I used Avast to scan for viruses including all files but it found no virus. The same thing is also happening in my brother's phone and we don't share anything between phones. There's a laptop in my home which also shows terraclicks in its history. So I think the virus is spread over all the devices, but I am still unsure as to how to remove it while mobile's antivirus detects nothing.
ad virus
Yes i have the same problem.Please help.
well I installed ccleaner and cleared three things:
All apps cache, chrome history and empty folders. It disappeared for some days but last night it came again to me. Now I have repeated the process again, let's see what happens now..
Usman i have factory restored my phone but it is still there. I dont know what to do now
khan khan said:
Usman i have factory restored my phone but it is still there. I dont know what to do now
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which internet are you using? I am using PTCL
Do you also have this on another mobile or on computer?
no, there is only one mobile and it is only happening with it.
It's most likely a simple ad that is displayed when they detect your device and want you to download their app I stead. Use an ad blocker and you will be fine.
zelendel said:
It's most likely a simple ad that is displayed when they detect your device and want you to download their app I stead. Use an ad blocker and you will be fine.
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It's also appearing on computers. And I can say it's not coming from the website's owner because I personally work on a website and one time clicking on its logo triggered the ad. That website would never put an onClick ad on its logo.
terraclicks ad virus
You should install a new window on your computer which will definitely remove these ads but what to do with this in the android. I have installed every antivirus , antimalware and have performed a reset too but no effect.
OMG, I was also infected with Terraclicks. All I can find is removal guides that have nothing to say about Android system.. Can I just reinstall by browser or reset my phone to factory settings? I would prefer the second option because I have lots of photos that are important to me on my device. thanks
It's almost a year since the original post on this thread, and still searches for info on this insidious malware, Terraclicks shows just non-android solutions and generic adware removal info.
Like several other posters I have tried dozens of AV and anti-malware apps but nothing works so far.
Has anyone found a solution??
Clear all apps cache, browser cookies (it will log you out of all websites in the browser), and browser history (only if needed).
Try the above steps one by one and give some time between them to see if the problem goes away without doing the other steps.
It probably comes from visiting cheap websites like those sharing apk files or songs etc. They don't give a damn about the users.
For me this was solved by making uTorrent pro inactive, the adds stopped.
Once I uninstalled it they never came back.
Assuming you have cleared your Chrome cache etc, I suspect you have an app which has been installed which is causing this. In my case it was an .APK which I had downloaded externally (because I couldn't get it from the Play Store). As it happened, this particular app made itself a device administrator (you can check by going into Security, Device Administrators) and it also had greyed out the ability to uninstall it. The app was also running as a background process which is how it keeps spawning those ads. Nothing picked it up as Malware (Malware Bytes, Trend, CCleaner). That was the giveaway to me, that something wasn't right with this app. This would also explain why a phone reset wouldn't remove it, because that typically reinstalls all your apps (except in your case) the app would have probably come from the Play Store. Since removing the app, I've had no problems and the dreaded problem has gone away. Now I am a lot more careful about which APKs I loaded. Good luck
I had this issue and it ended up being one of the apps I downloaded. Once in uninstalled the correct app the problem ended. If you do factory reset, then redownload all your apps, then the problem would come back because you redownloaded all the apps you originally had. This is especially true if you use an app that's not in googles playstore so what he is saying sounds almost exactly the same as what happen to me.
Thank you that fixed it. I downloaded showbox of a site. N it messed up my phone.
Some very weird things started happening on my phone earlier today. It's a Nexus 5X, running 8.0 Oreo, with the October security patch. I'm not rooted and I'm careful about what I install. The phone is fairly new, from this summer.
I will begin with describing what I did in the hours before this started. I can think of two things that possibly could have started it:
1) Two of my Facebook contacts sent malicious links to me an hour before. It looked like Youtube videos but was not. I did NOT open any of these links, knowing directly they were harmful (not sure if you can be affected by just receiving them, not clicking on them?). I received them in the Messenger Lite application (an official app from Facebook with scaled-down functionality).
2) A few hours before the Facebook links, I sideloaded an APK containing the new Pixel Launcher. I got the APK from Android Police/APK Mirror.
Can't attach links, but Google for: Hands-on with the updated Pixel Launcher, including the new Pixel 2 features [APK Download]
The APK was working fine and nothing seemed odd with it (I used the launcher for a few hours). As long as Android Police know what they uploaded, this shouldn't be the cause for my problems. I bet on Facebook Messenger instead. (People that click such malware links typically get their Facebook accounts hacked, however my account seems fine and my account didn't spam others with the same link. I did not change password or did anything else to "recover" my account yet).
So what happened after this on my phone?
Here is the first thing I noticed. I open Play Store to install updates. It turns out I have one update pending, it's called BankID. This is a major Swedish app used by nearly every smartphone user in the country, and it's for signing into government websites, bank websites, insurance company websites, and much more. When I click update in Play Store two things happen almost instantly:
1) Six pictures are downloaded from Messenger Lite to my phone. That makes no sense, how could clicking a button in Google Play trigger something to happen in Messenger Lite? In fact I tried it three times, with the same behavior every time. (Well, actually opening the Messenger Lite photo album, there are only photos there I already downloaded, so nothing new seems to be added there - but the photos were probably re-downloaded I believe).
2) The BankID update downloads to 100 % (the downloading takes a little longer than expected), then it halts and does nothing, i.e. it's not installing. No error message, it just stops there. I can choose to abort and try again, which I do three times or more, with exactly the same behavior.
Also, I now notice Play Protect hasn't run for two days, but when I try to run it, it seems to be down. After ~30 seconds of scanning it says "App verification temporarily down". "App verification temporarily down" could very well be connected with the halted update I just described? It still says it hasn't run for two days after this.
When I experiment, I notice other things that are very weird indeed.
1) Notifications in Gmail, Snapchat and possibly other apps aren't coming through. By opening the apps, I can sync manually.
2) When I move a file to a new folder using the Downloads app (Files app, stock one) I get a error message saying the move operation failed. This also triggered the photo notifications from Messenger Lite (same behavior as described above, with six photos). However, after a while the moved pictures are indeed in the right folder, even though the error message saying otherwise.
3) After some time I remove "app data" for the Google Play app. When I open it after that, there are now three app updates pending (e.g. Google Wifi also). But the same behavior occurs, when I try to download one or all of them, I get the Messenger photo notifications and the updates halt at 100 % without installing. So the BankID app - which could be targeted by attackers for obvious reasons - could just be a coincidence. It could have happened with any app I suppose, this was the only one pending right then. But still, why couldn't Play Store detect other pending app updates until I refreshed it the way I did? Was Play Store blocked from connecting to Google (or forced to connect to some other server, perhaps?).
What did I do after all of this?
I uninstalled three apps:
-Facebook Lite
-Facebook Messenger Lite
-Pixel Launcher APK
However the uninstall process was very odd. A process called "Package Installer" had a notification saying "Uninstalling Lite" and "Uninstalling Messenger Lite". It didn't seem to be working, it was stuck after some time. I restarted my phone and the apps seem to be gone now, at least they aren't listed in Settings --> Apps. So the uninstall process was successful I suppose, even though it didn't seem to work.
After I restarted my phone I also noticed:
-When I install Messenger Lite from Play Store now, it's easy to uninstall it the way it should be - in mere seconds.
-When I open Play Store, updates are now installing fine. Play Protect is also scanning fine now.
Everything looks back to normal now. But I'm not trusting my device. I'm gonna factory reset it. Before I do, I wonder:
-Can I feel safe the wipe would erase whatever malware I might have had on the phone?
-Is there something I could do to let us know what caused this? Upload a log here somehow?
The only piece of advice I have received as of now is: "Try restarting in safe mode, installing some AV software, and generally looking for suspicious processes." I haven't done that yet, would it still be a good thing to do? Must I install AV software before rebooting into safe mode, or could I install it directly from safe mode? (App suggestions, AV software?).
Usually I'm very careful and security-minded. I haven't had something like this happen before. So I'm very intrigued and mad about this. I'm gonna change my Google account and Facebook account passwords later on I think (I already have 2-factor authentication enabled).
One last thing: When I install Pixel Launcher on my non-rooted phone, it's not running as a system app if my understanding is correct. (At least it shouldn't be). But none the less, when I wanted to uninstall it I had to go into Settings --> Apps and tap "Show system apps" to find it in the list. Is that normal? Perhaps it doesn't mean anything, I just want to know.
Thanks for your advice in advance. Anything else to add? What should I do know? All you might have to say is appreciated.
Come on now guys, someone must be able to help?
If I factory reset the device, will it be clean? I didn't mess with custom ROMs, root, the bootloader or something else. (I suppose the bootloader is locked).
Firstly, I'm a non-root user of Greenify. When I first installed it (over a year ago, I believe), I was able to add most of my apps to hibernation (by hitting the "+" button and then "show all apps", then "More" at the bottom, and then choosing the apps from there. I admit, I have many apps installed (I know, it's not great and I tend to collect apps more than I use them but that's why I installed Greenify) so once I went to hibernate all those apps, it would take a bit but eventually go through with the additions. From then on, I would periodically add newly installed apps to the hibernation protocol through the same routine (+, Show all apps, More). I hadn't installed new apps for awhile until recently, when I decided to do another round of additions but for the past few months, any time I've tried, I get the loading circle for a second before it freezes and nothing happens - I have to close the app and reopen it only to run into the same issue again. I can hibernate the apps previously added with the widget and from the app itself but I can't add any new ones to the hibernation list. I've tried multiple times and even let my phone sit there with the frozen spinny circle to see if it just needs time to load but after 5 whole minutes of waiting, I had to give up. I do have a lot of apps but most of them have been given the hibernation treatment so the remaining pool of apps to be added to the list should be relatively small and when I choose the option to "hibernate system apps", system apps show up in the list when I hit the "+" (although I haven't added any system apps to the hibernate list for fear I could mess with my phone's functionality) but I when I hit the "More" option at the bottom, it does the same spinny-circle freeze thing again and marking or not marking "show all apps" makes no difference. I have a Galaxy S8, update to Oreo 8.0 so I'm wondering if this is an issue I'm running into because of the update, but I think I had this problem before joining the Beta. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I also have the donation package - I've had it since shortly after installing Greenify and there weren't any problems since then before the last few months. Thanks!
ActionGabby said:
Firstly, I'm a non-root user of Greenify. When I first installed it (over a year ago, I believe), I was able to add most of my apps to hibernation (by hitting the "+" button and then "show all apps", then "More" at the bottom, and then choosing the apps from there. I admit, I have many apps installed (I know, it's not great and I tend to collect apps more than I use them but that's why I installed Greenify) so once I went to hibernate all those apps, it would take a bit but eventually go through with the additions. From then on, I would periodically add newly installed apps to the hibernation protocol through the same routine (+, Show all apps, More). I hadn't installed new apps for awhile until recently, when I decided to do another round of additions but for the past few months, any time I've tried, I get the loading circle for a second before it freezes and nothing happens - I have to close the app and reopen it only to run into the same issue again. I can hibernate the apps previously added with the widget and from the app itself but I can't add any new ones to the hibernation list. I've tried multiple times and even let my phone sit there with the frozen spinny circle to see if it just needs time to load but after 5 whole minutes of waiting, I had to give up. I do have a lot of apps but most of them have been given the hibernation treatment so the remaining pool of apps to be added to the list should be relatively small and when I choose the option to "hibernate system apps", system apps show up in the list when I hit the "+" (although I haven't added any system apps to the hibernate list for fear I could mess with my phone's functionality) but I when I hit the "More" option at the bottom, it does the same spinny-circle freeze thing again and marking or not marking "show all apps" makes no difference. I have a Galaxy S8, update to Oreo 8.0 so I'm wondering if this is an issue I'm running into because of the update, but I think I had this problem before joining the Beta. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I also have the donation package - I've had it since shortly after installing Greenify and there weren't any problems since then before the last few months. Thanks!
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You may have to go through a tedious process. Clear the data and cache of Greenify, uninstall it, reboot and then reinstall it. Grant the necessary permissions through adb. Then choose all the apps that you want to hibernate. Other than this, I don't think that there is any other way to solve your issue.
Be aware that backing up and restoring the settings of Greenify may also restore the issue you are facing.
tnsmani said:
You may have to go through a tedious process. Clear the data and cache of Greenify, uninstall it, reboot and then reinstall it. Grant the necessary permissions through adb. Then choose all the apps that you want to hibernate. Other than this, I don't think that there is any other way to solve your issue.
Be aware that backing up and restoring the settings of Greenify may also restore the issue you are facing.
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Click to collapse
Also recommend being judicious about what apps are added to Greenify's action list. With the introduction of doze Android does a pretty good job reigning in resource abusers. Adding a huge portfolio of apps to Greenify has few/no upsides and can potentially lead to greater resource consumption and poor overall device behavior. Greenify is best used for targeted action against demonstrated 'bad actors' that do not respond well to native resource management. On Oreo your list of Greenified apps should be quite small.
Urgent help needed adds are popping up, first shows google logo then random add pops up everywhere haven't installed any new apps like wtf what it making it show up?
Ranop11 said:
Urgent help needed adds are popping up, first shows google logo then random add pops up everywhere haven't installed any new apps like wtf what it making it show up?
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Is it by chance Google Assistant or just the Google App? Can you post a screenshot of the advertisement your seeing?
If in doubt try factory data resetting the phone. I would suggest this combined with an antivirus/malware scanner (at the very least the latter if you don't plan on factory resetting the phone). A factory data reset basically resets everything back to default and removes all your apps. Set your phone backup, install some sort of antimalware/antivirus app and then pay particular attention to what apps you install. If the issue happens again take note of what apps you installed last/recently (cuz they might be the cause).
Don't do factory reset,download Malwarebytes eecurity,u will get 1 month free,then choose "use deep scanner during full scan" from the settings,it will detect and kill the malware nd adware
Chack the apps with an "overlay permisson"
Got it fixed had running Malwarebytes and Samsung owns antivirus both got nothing, i cleaned Google cache, reset their app data, removed few apps and its gone thankfully, have no idea where it would come.
The picture attached is "Estonian language" but yeah it would close my apps and show the add when I click show recent apps shows "Google play services" and then it immediately deletes itself.