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Help mysterious infospace link on homescreen

K

Kinetikx

Lurker
I thought about posting this to the general android forum but since this phone is ICS I figured I would try here first.

This morning I was having connection issues (which I've since discovered are just general network issues over and above the 4g connection quirks I've been experiencing since getting the Nexus), so I did a reboot.

This caused a link to a "start dot infospace dot com" address to appear on my homescreen which I can post in its entirety if needed. A quick google search shows that infosearch is attributed to some nefarious stuff. I removed the link and installed AVG just in case. It didn't find anything during its scan. I have installed a few apps lately but the only one that I was wary of was a woot.com watching app which I uninstalled yesterday after one day of use. The others were google docs and netflix.

Should I be concerned?
 
i found this...
http://androidforums.com/android-ap...rt-infospace-com-has-hijacked-my-browser.html

here is the comment i fond most relevant

""""I think this little gem came with "MP3 Downloader Pro"
I also started getting notification popups after installing it. I removed the app but the "search" shortcut is still there and there is likely malware that remains somewhere on the phone.

When I go into browser settings I see the start page set to "searchmobileonline.com" with some junk that redirects me to start.infospace.com

I found another post about it here: I'm new...and i have a problem with a "unknown ghost app"

The guy in the thread tried a lot of things and someone else ended up just doing a factory reset of their phone to get rid of it because AVG did't pick it up.

I'll try to do some more research into it if I can."""
 
That's about what I found. For the most part problems pertain mostly to PC's. I'm still searching around too. Kind of feel better but I may factory reset as well.
 
I read the rest of that first link. Turns out that I have that same "brightest flashlight" app which i got more than a year ago on my OG Droid. I used it last night for the first time in months. Obviously Im getting rid of that piece of crap and will report to google and post a negative review.

This is some shady stuff.
 
...comes from a company called "StartApp" Looks like its only for marketing, however the fact that this company is located all the way in israel does not comfort me :/ Let them know how you like their business schemes on their Facebook page! (was going to post with links but can't yet because I'm new here) Have fun! ;) I also downloaded that flashlight app just earlier today and later that p.o.s. popped up :mad: Deleted it and so far its gone!
 
Kinetikx said:
That's about what I found. For the most part problems pertain mostly to PC's. I'm still searching around too. Kind of feel better but I may factory reset as well.
Click to expand...

same here...it was recommended by airdroid. When I was installing flashlight, it said it would put some links on the home screen b/c its a free app. But it also said I'm free to delete the links and continue using flashlight for free. The only one I noticed was the infospace...I deleted it...any way to see if there are remnants of that link left? It looked like just a link, not an app
 
I had the same thing happen just now. I used the brightest flashlight app, and after that the link showed up on my homescreen. This is on my Galaxy S2. I'm uninstalling the app.
 
i got it on brightest flashlight app also. I'm a newbie on Android. I deleted the flashlight app, but the search app is still on my homepage. Can someone walk a rookie through deleting this app?

Thanks
 
Google search reports this topic on AndroidCentral, AndroidForums, TransformerForums. If there's a way to remove the app, beyond simply deleting it from the Android desktop, I'd be curious to hear about it. Anti-virus software doesn't seem to recognize it as malicious. Android 4.0 ICS isn't susceptible to browser homepage rewrite (if, in fact, anyone has actually witnessed this symptom). I doubt that a factory reset is necessary, but suit yourself. Please report updates here!
 
I think it is more than likely benign in the sense that it is probably not stealing your data, only probably trying to filter some ad/search money for you clicks. However, always check the permissions when installing something, especially if it is from a developer that you dont know/trust... and even then...

I had a link popup from probably the same flashlight app, and possibly another. THe link sometimes reappears after re-opening the app or after a phone reboot (I cant recall exactly). Uninstalling the offending app stopped the link from appearing again. Usually this is stated in the app description (that a homescreen shortcut will be installed). I don't like that... just like I don't like PC apps that come with search/tool-bars etc... even if they give you the option to decline them... I just don't like un-necessarily packaged stuff...
 
Discovered an article at Information Week (search for article "Android Counterclank: Malware, Or Smartphone Advertising?" on Google) that pretty much resolves this thread.

The offending software can be described as Adware, more accurately than Malware, and is not considered to be malicious, as much as "in bad form".

I'd still like to know that deleting the search icon removes ALL of the offending code (since I've already uninstalled the "carrier" app, which had no effect, I'm not really sure what else to do). Don't want to do a factory reset, ty.
 
Always review the permissions as it ask before installing any additional services on your phone. The search icon which load automatically on the desktop helps user to search their stuffs very easily.
 
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