Antivirus/firewall software...which one?

[Ridgerunner665]

I have Avast (not the free one) on all my PC's and it seems to do a fine job...but I've been reading up on this stuff for Android and it seems many of them ain't worth the time it takes to download them...that goes for both the free ones and the paid ones.

I don't really wanna root my phone, at least not until I familiarize myself with the system (its my first smart phone, but I can find my way around a PC)...may not ever root it, just don't know yet

Anyway...pros and cons of security software please.

 

[aysiu]

Pros... none that I can think of. I guess it can make you feel safer.

Cons... makes you feel safer and thus more complacent, possibly relying on "antivirus" apps to protect you instead of implementing real security practices... might induce unnecessary paranoia instead of calm and informed caution and awareness.

 

[chanchan05]

Point is, you don't need any. They're only useful for their phone tracking and call spam blocking abilities. You'd just be putting more load on your phone's resources.

The best AV app is the one you don't install: common sense. Viruses and Malware won't work on your phone even if you fill up all its storage with them.

 

[Riche101]

It's not just about installing apps, viruses. Can come from emails etc


To the OP the Avast app is really good and feature wise its the best

 

[chanchan05]

It's not just about installing apps, viruses. Can come from emails etc


To the OP the Avast app is really good and feature wise its the best

You can fill your phone with 16GB of viruses and nothing will happen. There are no viruses for Android.

There are Malware yes, but they can only affect your phone is it is embedded in an app, which you install (basically don't install from weird sources).

Plus the whole permissions system of Android makes it virtually impossible for viruses to work on it. A program cannot access ANYTHING on your phone without permission, so basically if someone puts a virus on the phone it is sandboxed. It can't touch anything else without your permission. Even if your phone is rooted, nothing will happen.