- Joined
- Nov 19, 2023
- Messages
- 980
So what device, os,Not if you pay attention.
Android Cell Phone AntiVirus
- Thread starter ZeeOSix
- Start date
For me, Avast One has kept me off bad sites from a Google search several times in the last year or so that I have been using it. I have no documentation or screen shots but I do remember Avast warning me the site I had clicked on was dangerous and that I should go back to safety. I do a lot of Google searching and internet on my phone and Avast does its job very well. It does not drain my battery either, I have a Pixel 6 and the battery will last 3 days from a full charge, and that is with Avast One running in the background the whole time. Other people may not see the same result, YMMV as they say. This is on the Avast One Free app for Android in the Google store. There is also a regular Avast app in the store too. I never tried that one, I think it is a paid app.
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2023
- Messages
- 980
What browser do you use primarily?
Samsung Internet with the Ad Block Plus for Samsung Internet app, both from the Google Store. I have a Pixel phone but don't really like Chrome very much.
Anyone put their trust in DuckDuckGo?
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2023
- Messages
- 75
I'd say go for something like SurfShark VPN, which has a very thorough/effective antivirus. Not free of course, but you tend to get what you pay for and anything free is usually just slow garbage claiming to be effective.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
I doubt their Antivirus is any more effective than the other offerings being considered.
OP: My preference is typically ESET, but the concerns about the age of the device and the fact that it is no longer receiving updates are valid. You really should look at getting a newer device that's still getting security updates.
Google's Pixel devices generally feature the longest support cycle in the Android ecosystem. Apple tends to have longer support (and continues to provide security updates for older OS releases for a period) than Android. The iPhone Xs/Xr is supported for IOS 17.x.x, and they were released in 2018.
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2023
- Messages
- 75
Opinions vary and I definitely trust it more. Everything processes through them before it becomes a possible issue. I did use ESET, but won't bother with it these days.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Given that most traffic is encrypted, being "processed through them" doesn't mean a whole lot in this context. An Endpoint client can block the request at the device if it's a known-bad target and at least parse the traffic at the egress point as it's being decrypted and block the payload from making its way onto the device if it detects it as being malicious. That's where the quality and effectiveness of the EndPoint client comes into play.
I've used ESET at the commercial level for about 15 years now as our EndPoint solution and wouldn't be inclined to recommend anything that doesn't have a solid history in the Enterprise space at this juncture. Since these AIO VPN products are focused on Joe Average home user, that tends to omit them from consideration.
I block 3rd party VPN's like Nord, Mozilla, Avast and SurfShark at the firewall level because they are a security risk. This is a necessity if you want all traffic to go through firewalls leveraging services like AMP, IDS and the like and are leveraging DNS filtering, necessitating the forcing of all requests to go through the assigned servers.
This is what their ads don't tell you-- if you subscribe to one of these general VPNs you'll be unable to use a lot of sites because the site owner now considers you a higher security risk. The site can't know who is at the other end of the VPN or what country they are in, the only option is to block everyone using that service.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
I probably get viewed as the BOFH for blocking them all, but the number of people that seem to think that by using one of these VPN's they are now "almost" Kevin Mitnick; 1 degree away from being part of Anon, and might accidentally "hax0r teh Gibson!!!1111ONE" purely by being in proximity to the "l33t hax0r energy" that using a VPN brings, is insane!
I was absolutely blown away to see something we've used in the Enterprise FOREVER to access company resources remotely get smacked with this extreme re-branding exercise where the mythos of "absolute privacy" has been used to snow Joe Average home user into thinking he's operating like a secret agent
Pixel and Samsung devices both get 7 years of security updates.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Samsung advertises that devices "up to 3 years old" will get Android 14. So that puts the Samsung cut-off at ~2021, as it appears the the oldest device is the Galaxy S21.
Google, it appears, cuts-off the Pixel for Android 14 at the 4a 5G, which was released in 2020, a bit disappointing, I remember with the Nexus, the support cycle being longer.
This is what I remember experiencing with my Galaxy and (dating myself here) why I ended up running Cyanogenmod on it, lol.
So yeah, you'll get security updates, but you are very quickly dead-ended on the OS release cycle, while somebody with a 6 year old iPhone can still run the latest iOS and will still get security updates for years after that stops.
Maybe on the flagship models. The A series doesn't get a lot of love.
There is a reason antiviruses basically never come up in discussions or reviews online or on YouTube.
There are hundreds of thousands of useless apps available on the Play store. Just because people give them good reviews doesn't mean they actually did anything. Probably the best it can do is sit in the background and hopefully not cause any problems.
I would do some research on you own, somewhere other than the Play store reviews for said apps.
I have a 7 year old OnePlus phone on android 10 and it still works but I won't do online banking or purchases with it. My 4 year old LG is still on a somewhat recent security updates on android 13 and the Play store these days does scan for viruses.
I've never heard of it happening.
There may be some useless Apps in the Play Store, but doesn't mean there isn't some value in a phone antivirus app or they all don't do anything worth while. You say that, then show that your phone is being scanned for viruses ... two opposing views it seems, lol.
No, I'm saying it's done through the play store negating the need for a likely unhelpful app running in the background. That screen shot was supposed to help you realize what is happening without any third party antivirus app.
You can also go into settings and check every now and then for updates to play store as sometimes they are available and haven't auto updated.
However if you're really worried about it, you should probably purchase a newer that is still getting security updates. I would go with a used pixel or galaxy s a couple years old over any new budget phone.
However if you're really worried about it, you should probably purchase a newer that is still getting security updates. I would go with a used pixel or galaxy s a couple years old over any new budget phone.
My phone doesn't do automatic virus scans like that, and doesn't have the capability. So my only option is to put an antivirus app on it.
Is "Play Protect" something built into the OS, or is it an App or cloud service? I doubt my phone can use it, so I'm asking what the deal is with Play Protect.
