Antivirus software for tablet?

pennypincher2013

Can anyone recommend antivirus, malware, spyware etc. protection for my Amazon Fire 7 please? I've never owned a tablet before.

flashg67

AVG and Lookout get 4stars +on the Amazon app store. I've used both over the years

dj1471

I use Sophos, it's one of the few that isn't full of ads or other rubbish you don't want.

I used to use AVG, switched away from it for some reason but can't remember why now...

jshm2

ESET is the one I use. But to be honest, Android doesn't really need a full blown antivirus as such

AndyPix

You don’t need antivirus on any phone or tablet.
The way the operating system works makes them totally useless.
The only thing they do is “remind” you that you really should purchase their big brothers for your actual computer.

Please please just uninstall them and carry on with your life

dj1471

AndyPix wrote: »

You don’t need antivirus on any phone or tablet.

You're not concerned about all the malicious apps on the Play Store then?

Google Is Fighting A Massive Android Malware Outbreak -- Up To 21 Million Victims

Android may not have viruses as such but there are plenty of apps designed to steal data, serve ads, etc. etc.

System

dj1471 wrote: »

You're not concerned about all the malicious apps on the Play Store then?

Google Is Fighting A Massive Android Malware Outbreak -- Up To 21 Million Victims

Android may not have viruses as such but there are plenty of apps designed to steal data, serve ads, etc. etc.

I would rather people took responsibility in educating themselves before willy nilly downloading apps. I don't see how putting antivirus software on their phone or tablet would fix the problem of already installing those apps. Thats like saying people on computers should just click on any links in any emails they get and hope to god their anti virus software protects them.

Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted comes to mind!

AndyPix

dj1471 wrote: »

You're not concerned about all the malicious apps on the Play Store then?

Google Is Fighting A Massive Android Malware Outbreak -- Up To 21 Million Victims

Android may not have viruses as such but there are plenty of apps designed to steal data, serve ads, etc. etc.

Yep there are rogue apps, and they can exhibit some undesirable behaviour,
And do you know what antivirus software can do about that ? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

Like I said, it’s the way the operating system works . No app can see what another is doing, or affect its behaviour , nothing.

It is absolutely useless and it’s a real bug bear of mine that they are allowed to advertise it as antivirus.
The most useful thing an antivirus on a mobile or tablet can do is tell you that you have the option “allow installation from unknown sources” ticked.

Please take this on board I’m sick of people asking about av for mobile devices, it’s ridiculous

esuhl

I'm still trying to get my head round Android's potential security vulnerabilities. I'd love to hear more opinions on the need (or not) for Android security software.

When I was new to Android, I played around with "antiviruses" and system cleaners/tweakers/optimisers and wrote them all off as snake oil. Except... I did once install a silly Lego game that MalwareBytes identified as malicious. I think it was from Amazon's repository.

The best protection people can take is by not installing obscure dodgy apps, not allowing apps unnecessary permissions, and not changing default Android security settings (to install from unknown sources, etc.). But, all that aside, is there any way to protect yourself from malicious apps on Google Play?

Installing the latest firmware updates is presumably quite important too. However, manufacturers drop support for phones after a few years. The latest stock firmware for my phone is Android 4.1.2, so I've installed a custom ROM running Android 7.x. But what do non-techies do? Should they throw away their phone as soon as the manufacturer stops providing OS updates?

And what about other potential vulnerabilities in Android? For example, I installed ESET USSD to protect my phone from harmful USSD codes. Is this kind of protection worth having?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eset.securedialer
https://www.eset.com/tools/ussdtest/

thescouselander

I wouldn't recommend anti virus on Android. As already said the apps cant see each other because each app effectively runs on the Linux kernel as a separate user with limited permissions and as you'd expect the "users" are unaware of eachother.

Running Antivirus is likely to lead to more problems than it can solve IMO. I've been running Android phones since it first came out and never used antivirus - never had any problems.

Space_Cadet_Smith

Android doesn't need anti virus, unlike windows, android applications are sandboxed and can only access their own applications data, all other functionality needs the user (you) to grant permission.

So essentially as long as;

a) you only use the official store and don't enable unknown sources

b) you review what permissions any app is requesting

You will be fine. I wouldn't let the internet clickbait stories concern you, it's a storm in a teacup. There are over 2billion active Android devices in use daily, and real world problem are pretty non existent.