Anti Virus & App Killer

[Drunken Monkey]

Hi guy's, I have never really played seriously with a smart phone, and this site has been very useful already. From here I have managed to update Gingerbread to ICS, and have read a lot about the phone so many thanks for that. I do however have two questions,
1) Is it essential to have an anti Virus app?

2) Also the same question about App killer?

Thanks for reading.

[RichH]

1 - Not essential but no harm in it if you want peace of mind.
2 - Definite no. The phone will manage apps as it requires them. You will use more battery and resource killing them for the phone to just restart them again. If yoou want something off the phone completely you can use Titanium backup (only on rooted phones) and freeze the apps you don't want.

[greenman]

I use Webroot for my phone security. Available via Play Store.

[chatter]

May I enquire... are these phones subject to virus's.?

[RichH]

May I enquire... are these phones subject to virus's.?

I've heard some rumours but they are not exactly plagued by them....

[greenman]

May I enquire... are these phones subject to virus's.?

As any mobile phone operating system becomes more popular then there comes a time when it's worth a scammer developing some way of infiltrating your phone.
It's not so much spotty teenagers expressing their anger for a multinational company - as in Microsoft attacks, but sophisticated hackers trying to access your personal details so that they can get your pin numbers, bank account details, or as in the NOW listening in to your messages.

The weakest point is the android app market or Play Store, but with a bit of careful reading you can buy or obtain a free app without any problems.
Putting a security app on your phone may help, and the Webroot security also offer a way of locating your lost phone and deleting and locking your phone remotely. It's free so why not use it or a similar security offering from the Play Store?

[chatter]

I've added AVG which I use on my pc at home,also I have the Samsung location/locking system in operation as advised on here.

[hazi1964]

I have no security on mine. Touch wood,never had a virus or any other problems, not that I'm aware of anyway. Hope I'm not tempting fate now. Lol.

Alison

[stonkr]

I found the various anti-virus apps I've tried sap battery so I don't have one permanently installed.

Every now and then I install AVG, run a scan and uninstall it.

[Drunken Monkey]

I use Webroot for my phone security. Available via Play Store.

Thanks greenman, installed and running. Nice one.