I have tried a couple of antivirus apps (avg free and avast free). I have £15 credit on google play store and considered a paid for antivirus app, does anyone know which is best? And do they all work as a firewall too? Sent from Bittech Android app
Currently using the AVG free version on my nexus. Seems pretty unnoticeable when using the tablet (thats a good thing!) So I would think that the paid version should be pretty good too
ive always used lookout, its free and seems to work well. android antivirus shouldnt be needed unless your installing dodgy apps
The problem is you can't always be sure if the app you are installing has malware in it. Even apps from Play. I currently do not use one but have used Lookout in the past and really liked it. Personally I've avoided Mcafee's products as after they took over wavesecure they revoked my lifetime membership (they did it with a lot of other users too).
I will be an anomaly and say Avast!, because it provides certain features for free that Lookout wants to charge for in their "premium" subscription. I have never had a virus myself so I don't know first hand, but Avast! has a good reputation from what I've read.
This is the same as the "Why do I need AV on my Mac" - Yes, not a lot of viruses yet but some time in the future the web will be flooded with Android vira. Better to be protected ahead of time.
Right now you'd struggle to get a virus on Android unless you're using torrented apps/games etc. But I agree that in the future there will be issues.
You can be relatively safe if you uncheck "install packages from unknown sources", but there have been instances where malware was actually in the Google Play store
I use lookout as well on all my android devices. 1. because you only notice it at all when installing apps. 2. Because you can track the location of your phone with it if it gets nicked. 3. You can simply reformat your phone and install lookout and sync all your contacts, photos etc back onto your phone. I've used feature 3 at least twice due to the OS corrupting itself randomly and refusing to boot and via rooting the phone. I've also had several mates who wished they'd had this functionality when their phones needed a factory reset. All the more important since numbers are rarely stored on SIM anymore.
THIS I recently changed phone and sim card, I installed my apps from backups taken on my old phone. AVG e-mailed me saying there is a new sim in your phone sim number "xxxxx". Was pretty impressed with that
