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Help I think I might have a virus

S

scrub boy

Lurker
I was using my browser like normal and I must of clicked on an ad or something because I was redirected to a new tab that said I must "upgrade my Android". Nothing scary, its happened before, I know its crap. But this time something weird happened, it made a beep noise that actually paused my music as I was pressing the back button on the bottom bar to leave the tab. It freaked me out as that never happened before.

Well let's just say I'm sort of a paranoid fellow, and proceeded to download over 5 antiviruses. All the AVs said the same thing, there were no viruses. I still didn't feel safe. I checked the app manager in the settings, there was nothing unusual, checked admins, nothing unusual.

Still don't feel safe. I read up on the internet what to do, some said to factory reset as surefire way to rid of it, some said it won't. Ive done three factory resets since.

I should explain that throughout all of this nothing really strange has occurred that would signify a virus is there. So really my whole basis on having this virus is that beep that paused my music inexplicably.

So my questions to you guys are, do I have a virus? Have I gotten rid of it, and if not how do I get rid of it? What was that beep? Has this happened to any of you before?

Thanks for helping poor paranoid me.
 
The people on this site really know their stuff for sure, so if they say you are good, you are good, you can rest easy now!! Here are a few articles on what to look out for HAD anything happened so you can be better prepared in the future!

http://www.recoverysoftware.com/how-do-i-know-if-my-android-phone-has-a-virus/

http://www.citeworld.com/article/2114383/mobile-byod/android-malware-how-to-tell.html

Slug said:
Agreed. Delete the browser history and you should be good to go.
Click to expand...
 
Wow is it really just that? I mean the thing that freaked me out most was the beep, cause I didn't think those ad pages had the power to affect like Google play music, so i thought it had access to my outside apps.
 
Android is not subject to the same types of viruses as if you were using say a pc. They don't self replicate, and its not something you should be concerned with when using your phones internet browser. The thing to watch out for is malicious apps you may inadvertently download. This isn't a concern though, as long as you have not allowed for installation of non market apps.

heres a link to some statements from google chief security engineer Adrian Ludwig:

---> https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/20...ef-dont-bother-with-anti-virus-is-he-serious/
 
So I can't get a virus from those redirection ad pages cause I didn't download anything? I have download from unknown sources disabled and I didnt click anything on the page and I didn't see anything download. Can it download in secret?
 
scrub boy said:
So I can't get a virus from those redirection ad pages cause I didn't download anything? I have download from unknown sources disabled and I didnt click anything on the page and I didn't see anything download. Can it download in secret?
Click to expand...

it might download in secret , however, you would have to manually install said download - and give it permissions to access certain features of your phone. as long as unknown sources is disabled you have nothing to worry about.
 
The pop-up triggered a sound , which paused your music. No different then if your listening to pandora and pull up a youtube video to watch: it will pause pandora to play the youtube audio. no biggie
 
Yeah I wouldn't have factory reset (bit of an overkill) but at least you know now so don't feel stupid and you now have a shiney clean phone with any old crap cleared away which can improve performance.
I don't understand the beep though. I've never heard of that bedore.
It wasn't just a coincidental notification?
 
It wasn't a notification, I remember that because it was a different sound than my normal notification tone and also because no notifications came up in the notification bar up top.
 
it could have been embedded into one of the webpages you got redirected to - i see it all the time. its just a script embedded on the page that calls a sound when a user visits the page.

see it more often on sites that direct you to fake "updates" or saying browser security needs updating, when you visit the page it will beep and a pop-up appears attempting to get you to download or install some malicious software.
 
Well I guess that explains it. I guess I'm pretty much safe now (actually I guess there wasn't much of a problem), since I've done a factory reset, which was an overkill, admittedly. Anything else I should know or do?
 
Clear browsing data and if that does not work preform a wipe cache partition on your device. You can do this by searching your device in Google followed by wipe cache partition instructions.
 
UGGUGUGUG1 said:
Clear browsing data and if that does not work preform a wipe cache partition on your device. You can do this by searching your device in Google followed by wipe cache partition instructions.
Click to expand...
No need since he's wiped the whole system making it completely clean :thumbsupdroid:
 
If there is a virus you can usually get rid of it by a few things.
1. Clear Browsing Data
2. Factory reset
3.Wipe Cache Partiction
4. Reinstall previous updates
 
Well I want to thank everyone of you guys for your help for what turned out to be just a small problem that was overblown on my part. I guess a little paranoia can make anything scary if you over think some things.

What I learned is that I most likely didn't get a virus and if I possibly did its gone now.
 
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