Tag Archives: Android

Avast

¿Dónde está mi teléfono? Avast Anti-Theft lo sabe

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Hace unos días recibimos en Twitter un mensaje de Juan José, usuario de Avast en su teléfono móvil, en el que nos comentaba que, gracias a Avast Anti-Theft, pudo recuperar su teléfono perdido.

Juan José con su móvil recuperado gracias a Avast Anti-Theft

Juan José con su móvil recuperado gracias a Avast Anti-Theft

Mientras Juan José paseaba por Sevilla, se dio cuenta de que su teléfono móvil ya no estaba con él, lo había perdido. Su primera reacción fue llamar al número para ver si alguien lo había recogido y podía devolvérselo. El teléfono daba señal, pero nadie respondía.

Temiendo que quien había encontrado el teléfono no tenía intención de devolvérselo, Juan José dio unos pasos muy importantes en estos casos. Desactivó la tarjeta SIM y modificó la contraseña de su cuenta de Google.

Lo que no se esperaba es que,  gracias a una acción que realizó anteriormente, iba a recuperar su teléfono.

Juan José fue previsor e instaló Avast Anti-Theft en su teléfono. Durante la instalación, introdujo un número de teléfono “amigo”, por lo que siempre que haya un cambio en la tarjeta SIM del dispositivo, el teléfono indicado recibirá un mensaje con todos los detalles de la nueva tarjeta.

Y eso es exactamente lo que sucedió. Al cabo de unos días, y sin tener esperanza en recuperar el teléfono perdido, Juan José recibió un mensaje de Avast informando sobre el cambio de tarjeta SIM en el dispositivo.

Gracias a los datos que el mensaje incorporaba, Juan José pudo contactar con el propietario de la tarjeta que, de buen grado, accedió a devolverle el teléfono.

Como ya explicamos anteriormente en el blog y tal y como hemos podido ver, hay que estar preparado por si alguna vez perdemos o nos roban nuestros teléfonos móviles. Instala gratuitamente Avast Anti-Theft en tu dispositivo Android.

¿Tienes alguna historia similar? Envíanos un mensaje en Facebook o Twitter.

¿Tienes alguna historia relacionada con nuestros productos?

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AVG

How to avoid auto-correct fails

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Have you ever sent an SMS in haste only to find that your phone has incorrectly interpreted what it thinks you meant, resulting in a bizarre or non-sensical message?

It can be frustrating, amusing and in some cases embarrassing. But don’t worry, there is way you can disable the auto-correct feature regardless of whether you have and iOS or Android device.

Disable Auto-correction in iOS on your iPhone or iPad

  • Tapping ‘Settings’
  • Scroll down and open ‘General’
  • Scroll through the options and open ‘Keyboard’
  • You should see the ‘Auto-correction’ option, tap to switch it off.

 

Disable Auto-correction/Auto-replace on Android

Some versions of Android may differ and your screen options might look a bit different, but in general the feature Auto-correction/Auto-replace feature can be found by:

  • Tapping ‘Settings’
  • open ‘Language & input’
  • Under the ‘Keyboard & input method‘ heading, select the current keyboard—it might be ‘Android Keyboard‘ or ‘Google Keyboard‘ depending on your device setup.
  • Scroll through the options and locate ‘Auto-correct’ or ‘Auto-replace’ then tap to uncheck.
  • If it’s the Google Keyboard you’ll be given a list of options for how aggressive you’d like the auto-correction to be. Select ‘Off‘.
  • You’re all done!

For more great tips on getting the most out of your PC, Mac and mobile devices, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Avira

Dissecting MKero, the premium SMS service subscriber trojan found on Google Play

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Since Android already became the most used operating system among devices worldwide, it indirectly caught the attention of malware creators as well – around 97% of malicious mobile software is now targeting Android.

The post Dissecting MKero, the premium SMS service subscriber trojan found on Google Play appeared first on Avira Blog.

AVG

Curb Your ‘App’-etite: These Top 10 Apps Stifle Your Phone’s Performance

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We all know that excited feeling when you take your new Android phone out of the box for the first time. The possibilities seem infinite – the battery will last forever, your phone will operate at lightning speed and you’ve never had more space for all your photos and music. But, how long until that hopeful feeling fades? Well, just wait until you’ve installed all your favorite apps. You may see your smartphone or tablet slow down to a virtual crawl in no time at all.

Keen to prevent this? In our global AVG Android App Report (Q2 2015), we’ve again, identified the top 10 apps that drain your battery, clog your storage and use up most of your mobile data. 
AVG App Reprort Infographic Q2 2015

What are the top app sinners? 

  • Snapchat! Oh Snap! Forget Facebook, Spotify, or any of the preinstalled apps: In Q2 2015, Snapchat dethroned them all as the app which had the highest, overall performance drain. Did you know that while it runs, it makes use of the camera, Wi-Fi/mobile data and GPS functionality, simultaneously? This explains the high battery life and traffic consumption.
  • Samsung Updates! The top, hidden battery-drainer this quarter was a service innocuously named “com.sec.android.fwupgrade,” which is responsible for delivering periodic Samsung updates to your device via Wi-Fi. As with the similarly update-heavy Samsung Security Policy Update (KNOX) and Google Play apps, the service has a massive impact on the battery life of your device.
  • Your Browser’s a True Hoarder! Joining more obvious entrants on the top ten list this quarter, such as Spotify and Amazon Kindle, Google Chrome emerged as the second highest, storage-consuming app, thanks to its collection of your browsing data over time. Our advice here: Clean up your browser from the settings menu or use a thorough cleaner product.
  • Facebook ’mis’-manages: A consistent ‘top’ performer in our charts, Facebook entered a new contender this quarter, with its monitoring app, Facebook Pages Manager. The app stores a lot of local content as it tracks page statistics, followers and comments while on the move
  • A bad forecast: Both The Weather Channel and Words with Friends were surprise entrants in our start-up chart – with the apps seemingly having no clear need to run invisibly in the background
  • A drain on your wallet and smartphone: With two of its shopping apps in our top ten ‘run by user’ list, if you want to save data and battery life on the go, you might want to steer clear of Amazon.

These were just some of the highlights that stood out to us. Our top 10 resource-draining apps should give you even more insight into what apps make your phone or tablet slow to a crawl. We’ve divided our top list into apps that you run by yourself, and those that run quietly in the background, which you may not even know about:

App report q2

 

Read the entire App Report here.

So what can you do about it?

Now that you know about the top apps, what’s left for you to do? Stay tuned for our next blog on the top tips to optimize your smartphone and tablet.

Avast

Big things are in store: Become a beta tester for Avast Mobile Security!

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Become one of our beta testers for Avast Mobile Security today!

Become one of our beta testers for Avast Mobile Security today!

Have you ever served as a beta tester for one of our mobile apps? The release of the latest and greatest Avast Mobile Security is right around the corner, and we want YOU to help us make our mobile security app the very best it can be.

It’s important to emphasize that the beta version of Avast Mobile Security isn’t available to everyone quite yet – the latest version of the app will make its way onto your device as soon as it’s released.

Becoming a beta tester for Avast Mobile Security now only requires three easy steps

Getting the latest news and updates about our app is easy as pie. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Visit this link.
2. Click the “BECOME A BETA TESTER” button. Avast Mobile Security will automatically update itself upon its imminent launch. You simply have to wait until the new design appears on your phone.
3. Once you receive the update, we’d love it if you could share your thoughts about the app with us in our Google+ community.

Once you’ve opted to become a tester using the link above, you’re all set to go! Thanks for becoming one of our valued beta testers.

Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.

Avast

More malware found on third party app stores

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As Google Play tightens their security measures on mobile apps, hackers are moving to third party app stores. Fake apps imitating popular apps were found on the Windows Phone Store earlier this week. Now a new batch of infected Android apps imitating the real deal have been found on unofficial third-party Android app stores.

image via the FireEye blog

image via the FireEye blog

The new malicious adware, dubbed Kemoge, reported Wednesday by security researchers at FireEye, also disguises itself as popular applications. The apps trick the user into installing them through in-app ads and ads promoting the download links via websites. The legitimate appearing apps aggressively display unwanted advertisements which seem annoying, but in the FireEye blog researcher Yulong Zhong writes, ” it soon turns evil.”

The fake apps gain root access and gathers device information such as the phones IMEI, IMSI, and storage information, then sends the data to a remote server.

Infections have been discovered in more than 20 countries, including the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Because of Chinese characters found in the code, it is believed that the malware was written by Chinese developers or controlled by Chinese hackers. The apps included Talking Tom 3, WiFi Enhancer, Assistive Touch, PinkyGirls, and Sex Cademy.

How to protect your Android device from infection

  • Only install apps from trusted stores like Google Play
  • Avoid clicking on links from ads, SMS, websites, or emails
  • Keep your device  and apps up up-to-date
  • Install protection that scans apps like Avast Mobile Security

Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.

AVG

10 Tips to help make your smartphone battery last longer

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As PC sales continue their downward trend, and mobile device usage continues to grow, we’re using and relying on our mobile devices more than ever these days – according to a study by comScore in the US, between 2013-2014 mobile usage accounted for 60% of our time spent using digital media.

Trends aside, you know how much you use your mobile device, surely you don’t want it to quit on you when you need it most, right?

That’s why we have 10 easy tips to help make your smartphone (or tablet) battery last longer:

  • Keep your device fully charged and topped up: Older Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries needed to be fully drained before being recharged so that they lasted longer, but newer one’s like Lithium-ion don’t require you to do this anymore, in fact if possible, avoid full discharges and charge the battery more often between uses.
  • Turn it off: If it’s not essential for your device to be on, turn it off to save power for later use.
  • Disable live wallpapers: If your smartphone or device is capable of displaying animated wallpapers, disable them. If possible, use a flat dark background as your wallpaper for your login and home screens.
  • Reduce screen brightness and disable auto brightness: The dimmer your screen the better. Also, disable the automatic brightness feature. This will help reduce battery usage considerably.
  • Disable vibrate and reduce volume: Vibrating requires the battery to drive a rotating mechanism which requires a fair amount of energy. Turn it off, and while you’re about it reduce the ringtone volume too.
  • Turn off Auto-sync, Background Data or Background App Refresh:  This feature, known on Android devices as ‘Auto-sync’ or ‘Background Data’ and on iOS devices as ‘Background App Refresh’, allows your devices apps to refresh in the background, use location services, sync data or send you push notifications. Depending on how many apps you have that use this feature, it could use a lot of data and drain your battery. Switch it off.
  • Turn off Bluetooth: When enabled, Bluetooth regularly checks for devices it can connect to. If you are not using it, disable it and you should see a small amount of energy being saved.
  • Turn off GPS:  GPS communication with satellites is done regularly and for extended durations, which requires a lot of power and also prevents a mobile device from going into an energy saving mode. If you’re not using your smartphone’s GPS, disable it for considerable savings in battery consumption.
  • Keep out of the heat: Once your device’s battery is damaged by heat, its capacity can’t be restored. So always store your device in a cool place and never leave it exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of time.
  • Close overly active apps: Close processor hungry apps that are regularly performing background calculations, refreshing or syncing. Take a look at the AVG Android app performance report for Q1 2015 to see which apps are some of the biggest battery drainers.

If you want to go that extra step and save even more power to extend your device’s battery life, we recommend installing a power management app like AVG Cleaner for Android

For more great tips on getting the most out of your devices, visit us at www.now.avg.com and follow us on twitter or Facebook.

 

AVG

Stagefright the sequel – Android devices vulnerable again

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Researchers at Zimperium, a specialist cybersecurity company, has announced that it has found another major vulnerability in the Android operating systems that many of us use on our mobile devices.

A blog post published by Zimperium says “Meet Stagefright 2.0, a set of two vulnerabilities that manifest when processing specially crafted MP3 audio or MP4 video files.” Nearly every single device since Android 1.0, released in 2008, is affected according to the blog post. The researchers were able to exploit the flaw in devices running Android 5.0 and later, and conceptually nearly every single device since Android 1.0 (2008) could be affected. According to Zimperium, earlier devices could be impacted through media players and instant messenger that use the Stagefright library.

Media files carry additional information called metadata, which is processed when the file is opened or previewed. This means the video or audio file on the device would not even need to be opened by the user for the attack to occur. Once the device was infected, the most likely method an attacker would use would be via a web browser.

How might this happen in a real environment?

  1. An attacker will try to convince you to visit a link that points to an infected website via either a malicious ad campaign or using spear-phishing techniques.
  2. An attacker on the same network as you could inject the exploit by intercepting your mobile network traffic destined for the browser.
  3. Infection of 3rd party apps that are using the vulnerable software library.

Zimperium has said that they notified Google’s Android Security team in August, and that Google responded quickly to try and fix it. They’ve also said that full technical details of the exploit will not be released publicly until Google has confirmed that the issue has been fixed and is available to users.

Bugs and vulnerabilities in operating systems are not uncommon. This exploit highlights the need for users to ensure that their devices are running the very latest version of their operating system and applications.

Unfortunately, unlike the first time Stagefright appeared, when disabling the automatic retrieval of MMS messages could prevent your device from being infected, this time we need to wait for the update from Google, our phone carrier as well as our handset manufacturers to make it available to us.

In the meantime there are some precautions you can take:

  • Check with your handset provider or carrier for a patch/update.
  • Update all the apps you have on your device.
  • Avoid downloading media files from untrusted sources, and even when trusted, use caution.
  • If you haven’t disabled the ‘Auto retrieve MMS’ feature, switch it off now.

Remember, the most important thing you can do is keep your operating system and apps up to date. For that extra layer of protection, download AVG AntiVirus for Android to help protect your devices against malicious phishing sites.

Follow me on Twitter @TonyatAVG