Antivirus Apps, Yes Or No?

[gerry atr1c02]

What are your views on them, particularly for someone who will be using unsecured wifi on occasions? Are they beneficial or unnecessary, and if the former, what do you recommend? People I know who use them seem to think Bitdefender and CM Security are pretty good, but that Avast is a bit resource heavy.

 

[Spider]

You'll find several prior discussions here: Search Results for Query: Antivirus | Android Tablet Forum

(Using the search box in the upper right corner of every forum page.)

 

[gerry atr1c02]

Thanks. I did a search prior to posting and came up with the same threads you linked but there are no recent ones and most are several years old. I see you were using Lookout some years ago. Are you still using it and if so do you still rate it highly? It doesn't seem to get mentioned much these days.

I was thinking of using something like CM Security, Bitdefender or Kaspersky, possibly along with CM's Clean Master app, and a free VPN app such as maybe PureVPN or VPN Master. I also forgot to say the apps should be free.

 

[Spider]

The only things I'm using nowadays are AVG AntiVirus FREE for Android and Clean Master (Boost Antivirus).

 

[gerry atr1c02]

Thanks. I'll probably do something similar to that. Cheetah Mobile support seems fairly good, and they get very good reviews from industry and users alike so I might go with their AV and Clean Master.

 

[gerry atr1c02]

Ended up buying a fairly cheap Lenovo (Tab 3 10.1) but it's fine for my needs. Tried several free AVs and found Eset to be the best. Not the most comprehensive features list but super-light and unobtrusive. Avast was pretty heavy and caused things to lag a bit and was quite a battery drainer. Cheetah Mobile's apps were just plain unusable in my view because of all the ads. Sophos. like Avast, was also quite heavy. Bitdefender was pretty light but had ads (haven't seen any in Eset yet). I'm also using Adguard adblocker.

 

[martin smith]

Now am using CM Security App for Android mobile it is also a good app for detecting and cleanup the virus..

 

[Traveller]

Bad idea to install anything Cheetah Mobile. Between the spyware and the constant phoning home to China, you're opening yourself up for more attacks.

Install Avast at the very least, and dump everything Cheetah Mobile.

 

[jiveturkee]

Stay away from Cheetah Mobile unless you want your data sold. Plus they install adware deep into your system. Agree w/Traveller. Get rid of Cheetah Mobile.

I don't really use any AV's as they are unnecessary if you only install from the Google Play Store. If I would use one AV, it would be Malwarebytes

 

[Kevin McMillan]

Never download untrusted apps on your tablet. When installing an antivirus app, always go for household names such as avast, avg, kaspersky etc. Using other minor antivirus apps may result in losing your data or they may install adware into your system as jiveturkee mentioned.

 

[Heibenson88]

I am using 360 internet security. How is this one?

 

[PinkLaramie]

I'm also using CM Security App.

 

[Traveller]

After my initial post on this thread, I actually thought things through and realized that viruses on mobile wasn't the problem, but malware. So I ditched all antivirus and simply run Malwarebytes every Sunday morning at 6am. I do use a cleaner: SD Maid. And nothing Cheetah Mobile ever touches my device.

 

[Future_Bringer]

Nope, I do not think that Anti Virus is necessary on Android. I am using custom rom and its getting a daily security update. As long as you do not have install any weird app and from the play store, you would be fine. Also make sure that you check the app permission when you installed it, if you find any suspicious then i am really sure its a malware. Some of security apps that install only slow down my phone and keep showing the ads.

 

[Positive_Aware]

I'm using a Baidu Anti virus. It is a free tool that will protect our android from any harmful app that can cause problems with the device.