AntiVirus Question

[deborah3756]

Which antivirus is the best for Android phones?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

 

[IanG]

None + Common Sense.

 

[Shadez]

I use lookout.

 

[indee2025]

The anti-virus apps are completely BOGUS...

Unless you utilize apps from outside the market and leave the box checked "allow installation from unknown sources" there is no real danger....there was a time where google found malware in some apps that were loaded onto the market but they immediately caught on to it/fixed the issue & sent notification along with an update to fix it for those who were victims....

Just use common sense when installing programs outside of android market= Don't install anything that claims it gives free access to paid apps-this is the most common intrusion method....

Symantec, Lookout etc those are completely BOGUS & many misinformed people think those apps are great, believe what you want but you don't need antivirus for your mobile....I have a feeling you're gonna do it anyway as there will be many posts after mine sharing how lookout saved them from viruses yada yada but it's all bogus, you're PC antivirus could notify you of a problem before you download a malicious app from outside the market to your mobile...

 

[Shadez]

Without getting into a debate, they aren't 'useless'. And yes, common sense plays a big part in what you download. But when it comes to 3rd party apps, far from useless.

 

[indee2025]

Good....not being cynical, but how are they far from useless? Maybe you know something I don't....

 

[Shadez]

Good....not being cynical, but how are they far from useless? Maybe you know something I don't....

I doubt I know more than you on them, I do know that lookout, on occasion, has notified me of 3rd party apps I was testing out where the permissions listed were different than what they actually were. Like someone said, it's like task killers, for some it's just peace of mind.

 

[Speeding Wheels]

Antivirus programs on Android arent USELESS, they're just less necessary than they are on your PC.
If you're mindful of what you do, you're not very likely to have a problem.

Even so, we did have a scare some months ago when a nasty virus from China found it's way into the market.
But that is so rare...


All that being said I run without Antivirus... only because I'm not afraid to flash back to stock and start over if need be.

 

[deborah3756]

Well, sorry to sound dumb but, when surfing the net on your phone, what protects you from picking up a nasty bug?

With these phones becoming more like mini computers, aren't they vulnerable to attacks like their bigger cousins?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

 

[Lil4cyl]

Because malware on the web is coded primarily to infect windows based operating systems

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[tjk629]

Well, sorry to sound dumb but, when surfing the net on your phone, what protects you from picking up a nasty bug?

With these phones becoming more like mini computers, aren't they vulnerable to attacks like their bigger cousins?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

The bugs would have to be designed for android.

Personally, I use Lookout out for its backup and phone finding capabilities. The antivirus is just an added thing.


Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[RacingTiger03]

Because malware on the web is coded primarily to infect windows based operating systems

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

with the increasing popularity of android that's likely to change...


I have used lookout in the past because of its GPS locating, Scream, and Data wipe features. primarily the first two cause I'm bad to lose my phone lol. As with anything anti-virus is a nice safegaurd. I do not typically run AV on a PC either, I'm very mindful of what I do, and I keep a flash drive handy with malware bytes and Avast loaded at all times, as well as a linux live disc in case things get REALLY bad so I can backup my important data and do a complete wipe of all windows files. Might I add that flash drive has been used to save friends PC's that had AVG or Norton loaded more times than it has been used to save my PC with nothing loaded

So to some extent... yeah most any AV is useless regardless of the OS, many are also resource hogs. Also, be mindful of having an AV installed, VZW will immediately say it as at fault for any issue you have, even if it is lookout which is promoted by verizon.

 

[tjk629]

Might I add that flash drive has been used to save friends PC's that had AVG or Norton loaded more times than it has been used to save my PC with nothing loaded

Sometimes people are just **** out of luck.

My sister has 5 kids all ranging from 4(?)-12. Back in the day the little ones (not the 12 year old) would get on the computer looking for Sonic the Hedgehog. In their quest for the blue guy would manage to get the computer more infected then a street walker.

Always said I could make a separate account for the little ones but they always said no no no. Husband eventually spent 2k+ on a mac. Which I don't think they let the kids touch. Not cause it would become infected, but cause it was pricey.

 

[indee2025]

There is some good points here.....

Yes, cruising the internet there would generally need to be a malicious program specifically written to take advantage of the situation in order to infect your system, but this is also an application we're talking about, not a Windows OS PC...

For Example:
A typical malicious program waiting for unsuspecting web surfers to travel to it's website so it can infect the computer (you can get a virus just from visiting a website-even if you don't click anything) sees let's say a mac and let's it go by, sees an android tablet device & let's it go by, but then along comes a dell running windows xp and it infects it...this happens because that malicious program has the ability to infect a machine using window operating system....probably written that way because more windows PC's are cruising the web......so what if it's written for the ever popular daily growing android OS?

Well what should happen is when it goes to infect when you visit the website the Droid says "no thanks pal" because you don't have the box checked to allow the installation of unknown sources because you're a responsible rooted droid owner and made sure when you were finished downloading that .apk you went back into settings and unchecked that block....

So what if you didn't and you don't have a snazzy AV app?? Well you should visit the website and leave without getting infected, many reasons why, but the top 3 for me are:
1) Your task bar let's you know when something has been downloaded or installed or when a download or installation has failed which would show you exactly what the stowaway was and then you simply go into root explorer and delete it.

2)Apps typically don't run unless you tell them to or if they do auto start after a task killer closed them you can easily detect that within settings>applications>running services-again the stowaway is caught & deleted

3)Most apps mainly run when you use them and don't have interaction with the rest of the system so actually getting an application to maliciously send crucial data to your phone-perform as a carrier for spamming others-or as a key logger would be so hard to do that anyone with that kind of capability either works for google or makes too much money to worry about stealing random personal info...

*Also as an addition to this, the worst of what you'd encounter on your mobile would probably be a key logger (saves and transmits everything you type) so people could steal your bank info if you do mobile banking etc, passwords to e-mail etc etc & an anti-virus especially symantec will NOT prevent the installation of a key logger because other programs use the same technology and AV can't distinguish between the good ones & bad ones so it skips them unless it's been specifically reported to the AV company as a malicious key logger which is easy to change the name....popular programs that use key loggers are MS word, anything like word & any program that auto corrects to include swype.

 

[jakethesnake77]

Android swine flu. Keeps certified like new replacements in circulation. Hah

HTC Thunderbolt Tiamat Liquid 3.0