Tag Archives: Android

Avast

Avast Launches Memory Saving Cleaner App for Android

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Today, Avast announced the launch of Avast GrimeFighter at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The new application helps Android users free extra memory on their devices with just a few taps so they can save the data that matters to them while enjoying a faster, smoother performance on their devices. 

GrimeFighterHow Avast GrimeFighter works

Avast GrimeFighter begins by scanning all applications on an Android device, identifying unimportant or unnecessary data that could be eliminated without damaging applications’ functionalities. Using GrimeFighter’s easy-to-use interface, users can choose from two modes that allow them to eliminate excess files with ease: Safe Cleaner and Advanced Cleaner. Safe Cleaner is a customizable scanner that quickly identifies unimportant data for instant, one-tap removal. Advanced Cleaner runs in parallel to Safe Cleaner, mapping all of the device’s storage and creating a simple overview of all files and applications that take up space. Advanced Cleaner locates inflated or unused applications and arranges them by file type, size, usage, or name, so users can permanently remove the files and free up storage space.

In addition to cleaning up unwanted data, Avast GrimeFighter helps maximize storage capacity by syncing with personal cloud storage accounts so users can manage their device’s storage without having to delete valuable data. Users can drag files to the cloud icon and GrimeFighter will instantly transfer them to a safe folder in the cloud. Avast GrimeFighter is currently compatible with Dropbox and can assist users in setting up a Dropbox account. Additional popular cloud storage solutions will be added soon.

How does excess data get accumulated?

Bits and pieces of data accumulate on your device, whether you are aware of it or not. GrimeFighter helps you locate excess data that you wouldn’t typically be able to find, such as data left over from initiated app downloads, residual data, thumbnails, and app caches. Popular apps, like Facebook and Instagram, also create excess data on your device as they inflate from their original download size when used regularly. Avast tested some of the most popular Android apps and found that their size can grow exponentially during one week of heavy usage:

                                                                         install size:          additional data accumulated:

1)    Facebook                      36.7MB                        153MB

2)    Flipboard                    12.6MB                        71.1MB

3)    Google Maps            23.21MB                       68.8MB

Avast GrimeFighter will help the more than one billion Android users free up anywhere from 500MB to 1GB of storage per device to enjoy faster performance and is available for download on Google Play.  

AVG

Making your Android battery life go further

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In this post, we’ll walk through not only how to limit your app resource use but also how to get the most out of your battery life, device performance, storage and data plan on Android devices.

This guide is for Android devices running Android 3.x or Android 4.x, including:

  • Smartphones (such as the Samsung Galaxy S5)
  • Tablets (Samsung Galaxy Note Pro, Nexus 7)

Please note that though many phone and tablet makers use Android, they tend to change the way things look and work. We’ll show you how it works on different systems, but if you can’t find an option for your exact device, don’t worry as many of the steps are the same for most devices.

 

Limit Notifications

Notifications are one of the most useful features of a smartphone. They give users the information they need to know at a glance. However, not all notifications are necessary and some cause the phone to be constantly active, increasing the drain on the battery and mobile data.

To turn off unnecessary notifications, you need to go into the Apps or Application Manager in your device settings. This will show you a list of all the apps you have running.

To turn off notifications for an app, such as Asphalt 8, tap on it and uncheck the Show Notifications entry.

 

 

Control Your App

Limiting notifications is just one way to reduce the impact an app has on your device. In each app’s settings you will find additional options and features you may want to turn off. We’re going to use Facebook as an example to show you how it’s done.

Ranked among the most resource-heavy apps, there are several things users can do to limit Facebook’s resources consumption. As with before, the first step is to go to the app’s settings page (via the settings page and App Settings):

From there you will see a number of features that will tax your device, such as:

  • Facebook chat: If you do not use the chat feature, you can turn it off and use the standalone Messenger app instead.
  • Refresh interval: Every hour, Facebook automatically downloads content in the background, even if you’re not using the app. This impacts battery life and data consumption. You can limit this to every four hours or turn it off completely.
  • Location: Facebook can use the built-in GPS of your device to determine where you are and include that data in posts you make. Disabling this feature can help save battery life.
  • Notifications: This is an alternative way to turn off the app’s notifications.

While this is specific to Facebook, many apps on your smartphone or tablet have similar settings. In general, however, you should watch out for any that look to involve background activity, such as “Refresh Interval” or “Background Refresh” and limit the use of built-in features such as GPS/Location and Bluetooth.

 

Free Up Space & Limit Mobile Traffic

Our top storage offenders often start off as small apps or games but collect temporary clutter over time, and swell in size. When this happens, the impact is not just on your device’s storage, which obviously declines, but also on your mobile data.

Many apps tend to download data in the background in order to be instantly available once you open them. The NYTimes app for example automatically downloads news stories to your devices every 24 hours – even though you may not read all of them.

Almost every app stores temporary files, cookies and other date in order to work. In our internal tests, we found that simply browsing through a typical Facebook timeline for roughly 60 seconds produced over 5 MB of temporary files. The NYTimes app created a cache of 10 MB when we watched a 20 sec video and opened one news post.

This cache can be deleted on either a per-app basis or automatically. In this next tip, we’ll show you two ways to limit the growing storage impact of apps.

Open up the Application Manager or App menu from within your Settings menu. Tap on an app, such as NYTimes or Facebook and hit the Clean Cache Button (screenshot to the left):

 

Doing this for each app on a regular basis can be quite time consuming, which is why AVG built the AVG Cleaner for Android app (screenshot on the right). It scans all apps for these caches regularly and allows for the cleaning of all cache files automatically or in bulk.

The only downside of cleaning a cache may be that information, for example a Facebook image, which has been loaded and cached, may need a few extra moments to load when you open it the next time.

 

Reduce Data Traffic

In some cases, an app will include settings which allow the user to limit the amount of data it downloads over Wi-Fi or mobile data and stores locally. Below we outline how to do that, again using the NYTimes app as an example:

Open up the app in question and tap on the three little dots in the upper right corner. Go to Settings. From here, you can turn off “Offline Reading” by tapping on Update Frequency and selecting Never (Manual). You can also turn off the Thumbnail Caching which downloads images of news stories so that they display faster if you open them.

 

There will be some people who do not want to limit their apps to work in a certain way and in some cases – like with games or video streaming – there’s no technical way to reduce the amount of battery consumption or mobile data usage. Which is fine – this is all about user choice. If you do choose to take action however, these general recommendations should help Android device users reduce the overall resource consumption so they can enjoy using their apps without limitation.
 

Turn down the brightness

These days, virtually all Android smartphones or tablets come with super high-resolution displays that are also extremely bright. While that may be great for browsing the web, sharing photos or playing games, these displays harm your battery life. Did you know for example that on some smaller tablets with high-resolution displays, a display set to full brightness is responsible for 80 percent of the entire power consumption!

If you’re not in bright sunlight, we would therefore recommend turning the brightness levels down to 50-70 percent.

 

Disable Connectivity

Your Android device is full of features that impact battery life. It is important to make sure they’re off when they’re not being used:

  • Wi-Fi: Nowhere near a wireless connection? Then turn off your Wi-Fi. Otherwise the built-in Wi-Fi receiver will constantly try to scan for networks – which can increase battery usage by more than 20 percent.
  • Bluetooth: Not using a Bluetooth headset or connecting your Android device to your car? Then this setting should also be turned off, otherwise it will continually scan for compatible Bluetooth devices, using up battery as it does so.
  • GPS: Your mobile GPS is probably one of the biggest power suckers there is. The built-in GPS antennas are really power-hungry, and if your GPS is turned on they continue to draw power even if you’re not actively using them – mainly thanks to the alarming number of apps that regularly use the GPS feature such as [Google Maps, Facebook or Twitter]…So if you’re at home or just don’t need to use any GPS, turn it off.

You’ll find the settings for all three features in your swipe down menu or under Settings. Go to “Wireless” (or “Wireless and networks”) and switch off the relevant feature when not in use. Note: GPS can sometimes be referred to as “Location-based services”.

 

Remove performance-sapping apps

Your Android device is much like your PC: the more apps you install on it, the slower it will get and the sooner it’ll run out of juice. It won’t happen with one app nor probably with five, but once you’ve installed a dozen – or hundreds – of apps, you’ll notice a significant slowdown. That’s because many apps run features even when you’re not using them. So how can you be selective about which apps you do and don’t want on your phone? There are tools that help you identify the worst offenders for performance and battery life.

Ours is the free AVG Cleaner 2.0 app. Here’s how it works as an example:

  1. Firstly, install the free app from the Google Play Store or the Amazon Kindle store and launch it.
    Next, go to the “App Uninstaller” page. This will list all your currently running apps.
  2. If you tap on the little blue arrow in the top right, you can then sort the list by:
    • App Usage: Shows the apps you haven’t used in a long time.
    • Battery Usage: This helps you identify the most power-consuming apps on your device.
      Data Usage: If you’re on a monthly data plan, every Megabyte counts. If you sort the apps by “Data Usage”, you’ll quickly find the top apps that are sucking up your plan.
    • Storage Usage: Running out of disk space? Then it’s time to look at the largest apps on your phone.

 

To uninstall an app, tap on it and hit “Uninstall”. You can even tap and select multiple apps so you can get rid of a batch at a time.

I hope these tips have been helpful to you and that they help you bring new life to your Android device!

Avast

Are you as smart as your smartphone?

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Smart phone

How do I find my apps on this thing?

Not too many years ago we had phones that only made calls. Smartphones are the newest generation of phones that bring a lot of possibilities right to our fingers through the apps specifically designed for them. We all got used to the Windows (or Mac) world, but now we are witnessing a revolution from “standard” programs and some specialized tools to a world where every common thing can be done by our smartphones. Sometimes it seems, that the device is smarter than we are!

But can it protect itself from the increasing number of threats?

You’ll find a lot of articles on the Internet which state that security companies exaggerate the need for mobile security and antivirus protection. You’ll read that Google Play and the new security technologies of Android Lollipop are the only things necessary for security. I could post many examples of such (bad) tips, but I don’t want to waste your time or mine.

Do you use only Google Play as your app source?

A common (and wise) security tip is to stick with Google Play for downloading apps. This is good advice despite the fact that we see here in the Avast blog that Google Play fails to detect some apps as malware. Look for our mobile malware senior virus analyst Filip Chytry’s articles. He continuously discovers holes in Google Play security.

However, what if you want apps that have been banned from Google Play? No, I’m not talking about (just) adult apps. Google banned anti-ad apps, for instance. So where is a safe place to get them? The answer is simple: outside of Google Play. The Amazon Appstore for Android is quickly increasing the possibilities.

Do you think that clean apps can’t become bad ones?

Clean apps can become bad ones, and with the new Google Play permission scheme, you may not even notice. This makes updating your apps (another very common and wise hint) an additional complication.

As the apps we love can turn against us, the best tip of all is that you install a mobile security app that helps you know what it being added to your phone.  Avast Mobile Security updates its virus database very often to detect the latest threats and allows you to install securely all the apps you love.

This makes you smarter than your smartphone! ;-)

 

AVG

AVG Study Reveals Top 10 Apps That Ruin Your Smartphone’s Mojo

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In AVG’s latest “App Performance Report” for Q4, we’re looking again at the anonymous data from over one million AVG users, compare it to our first report, and reveal what apps are the most resource-hungry on their phones.

When looking at one million of our users, we found many interesting trends that might just surprise you:

 

Spotify is now the No 2 resource consuming app overall:

Out of our total user base, 638,716 users had the music streaming service Spotify installed: what they perhaps didn’t know is that Spotify is now the second most resource-consuming app in the store (up from rank 5 in Q3).

Spotify

If you’re low on battery, space or data, keep that streaming to a minimum!

 

The changing gaming landscape

In our previous report, uber-popular FarmVille and Puzzle & Dragons topped the charts for the most resource-hungry games for Android. However, they were nowhere to be found in our Q4 roundup. A closer look shows Puzzle & Dragons and FarmVille suffered from a 50% and 43% decline respectively in installed user base in Q4 when compared to the beginning of the year (Q1/Q2).

New games such as Boom Beach and Deer Hunter 2014, however, appeared out of nowhere and secured the top spots in both usage and resource usage (not surprisingly, they’re games after all!).

Farmville

Deer Hunter 2014

[SUBLINE] Massive decline for Farmville and a rise of Deer Hunter 2014.

 

Samsung’s New Updates

After the rollout of Android 4.4.2 (October 2014), we noticed a new entry in our top battery drainers that run immediately at start up. Samsung’s Security Policy Update service, officially named Samsung KNOX™, automatically checks for security updates and downloads these automatically. While Knox is a great addition to having a full-featured antivirus product installed, a number of users and even journalists have publicly complained about not just the amount of notifications shown but also a 30-40% drop in battery life.

As mentioned in this ZDNet article, this feature cannot be turned off as mentioned by the Samsung Technical Support: “To ensure that your device always has the latest security to protect you and your data, Samsung will occasionally send security updates to the device as needed. I’m sorry to inform you that there is no option to disable these updates”.

Policy Update

Notifications

 

While we can’t stress enough that security on mobile device is critical, handset makers need to ensure their product does not reduce battery life or impact overall performance drastically.

 

Self(ie) awareness

Selfie

Taking selfies was “the” cool thing to do in 2014: selfie sticks, selfie apps, selfie phones all flooded the market. Unfortunately, some of these apps can be quite draining on a device’s battery. A new app called Candy Camera – Selfie Selfies crept up to number 7 in the top battery hungry apps that run in the background. We suggest avoid apps like these as they only should drain battery when you’re actively running them!

 

Maps & Navigation

Did we spend more time navigating and looking at maps? With more time off over the festive period, both Waze (Social GPS Maps & Traffic) and also Google Maps climbed into the Top Usage Chart:

Google Maps

 

Less gaming, more talking

Another seasonal effect: compared to Q2 and Q3 of 2014, we spend much more time on social networks and communicating through messenger apps instead of gaming. While we still spend most 49% of our time gaming on our Android devices compared to 62% in the previous quarter, social and communication apps rose to 11% and 10.3% of our total usage (compared to 6% and 3% respectively before)

 

Again, find a full list and all the data in our app report here. 

So what are you supposed to do if you’ve got one or even many of our resource drainers installed? Find out in our top tips in the next blog!

AVG

Five permissions to check when installing Android apps

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Apps are what make our smartphones truly useful. They help us stay in touch with family and friends, guide us, educate us and sometimes simply entertain us. With the average person having nearly 30 apps on their device, it’s clear that we’re no strangers to downloading and installing apps.

However a word of caution. You should always check the permissions that an app requests while installing.

In this video I have outlined five permissions that you should be aware of and give careful consideration when granting it to an app.

 

Five permissions to check when installing Android apps

1. Access to Internet: be careful that the permission being asked for is appropriate to the app

2. Access to phone and call information: apps will be able to view your call history, send text messages and incur additional costs without you knowing.

3. GPS & precise location: does the app really need your precise location or even access to your GPS?

4.Access to photos/media/files: ensure you only give access to trustworthy apps, with this permissions they have the ability to access a lot of data on your phone.

5. Camera & Microphone access: Apps can access them at anytime and take photos or record audio without you knowing. Make sure you provide access to apps you trust.

If you’re unsure about why the app is asking for you to provide a particular permissions, you can always contact the developer and ask them to clarify.

AVG

Malware Is Still Spying On You Even When Your Mobile Is Off

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Most of us have seen Hollywood movies where hackers trace and spy on mobile devices even though they are switched off. Like most things in spy movies, we disregard it as fiction.

However, a recent malware discovered by the AVG mobile security team may change this preconception.

This malware hijacks the shutting down process of your mobile, so when the user turns the power off button to shut down their mobile, it doesn’t really shut down.

After pressing the power button, you will see the real shutdown animation, and the phone appears off. Although the screen is black, it is still on.

While the phone is in this state, the malware can make outgoing calls, take pictures and perform many other tasks without notifying the user.

How does this happen?

First, we have to analyze in detail, the shutting down process.

On Android devices, when the power off button is pressed it will invoke the interceptKeyBeforeQueueing function of the class interceptKeyBeforeQueueing. interceptKeyBeforeQueueing will check if the power off button is pressed and go to certain process.

When the power button is released, intereceptPowerKeyUp is invoked and it will trigger a runnable to continue.

So according to above code snippet, we could see that in LONG_PRESS_POWER_GLOBAL_ACTIONS switch, some actions will be done after power off button is released. showGlobalActionsDialog is what we care about, which will open a dialog for your to select actions, such as power off, mute or airplane mode.

So if you select power off option, mWindowManagerFuncs.shutdown will be called.

But mWindowManagerFuncs is an interface object. It will actually call the thread ShutDownThread’s shutdown function. ShutDownThread.shutdown is the real entry point of the shutting down process. It will shut down radio service first and invoke the power manager service to turn the power off.

So finally in power manager service, a native function is called to turn the power off.

Now we have understood the whole process of shutting down your mobile. So if we want to hijack the power off process, we definitely need to interfere before mWindowManagerFuncs.shutdown  as that shuts down the radio service.

Now let’s turn back to the malware which executes a similar attack.

First, it applies for the root permission.

Second, after root permission is acquired, the malware will inject the system_server process and hook the mWindowManagerFuncs object.

Third, after the hook, when you press the power button, a fake dialog will pop up. And if you select power off option, it will display a fake shut down animation, leaving the power on but the screen off.

Last, in order to make your mobile look like really off, some system broadcast services also need to be hooked.

Let’s see some examples:

Recording a call

 

Transmitting private messages

Luckily, this malware has been detected by AVG. And next time if you want to make sure your mobile is really off, take the battery out.

AVG Mobile Malware Research team

AVG

AVG AntiVirus PRO is first security app to enter Google Play Revenue Chart

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AVG’s position in the Top 10 chart is according to the App Annie Index for December 2014, produced by mobile app analytics company App Annie. The report, which analyzes trends and downloads for apps across all the major app stores, looks at both the popularity of apps and the revenue they drive.

In the report, App Annie details the incredible growth that they have tracked in security apps. And one year after climbing into the top ten apps for downloads, AVG AntiVirus PRO Android Security – referred to AntiVirus Security on Google Play – has become the first security app to enter the Top 10 Revenue Chart (excluding games) on the Google Play Store.

Top Revenue Apps on Google Play

 

Proven demand

Increased demand comes after a busy 2014 for cybersecurity events and suggests consumers are more security conscious as a result.

There is demand for security apps – the continued popularity of AVG AntiVirus Security FREE, which was the first security app to exceed 100m downloads on Google Play, shows this.  People, however, are not only protecting their devices with free security apps but are willing to invest in the solutions that they trust.

This is echoed in the recent MEF Global Consumer Trust Report where 64% of those studied use software or apps to guard passwords and protect against malware and only one in ten (11%) take no steps to protect their device.

 

Highly Rated

AppAnnie’s report also highlighted that AVG AntiVirus Security FREE is receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews from the public.

During December, AVG’s AntiVirus Security FREE received an average rating of 4.6 from over 33,000 reviews, with 77% of all users awarding us a maximum score of five stars.

AVG AntiVirus FREE Reviews

 

 

The future is bright

At AVG, we’re already looking ahead to a world where mobile devices are not just secured, but integrated across the Internet of Things. Through AVG Zen, we deliver a single dashboard from which a customer can manage the security, privacy and performance of all their devices and those of their family, all in one place.

 

Avast

14 easy tips to protect your smartphones and tablets – Part II

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More easy things you can do to secure your smartphone and tablet.

On our blog last week, we shared the first 7 easy security measures to protect your Android devices and the data stored there. But we haven’t finished them. Let’s go a little further.

8. Keep an eye in your phone or, if you can, set Geofencing protection

Don’t put your phone down and go somewhere else. And if you’re having fun in a bar and drinking a beer with friends, have a lucid thought before starting: Turn the Avast Geofencing module on. It’s easy. Open Avast Premium Mobile Security > Anti-Theft > Advanced Settings > Geofencing.

avast-Mobile-Premium_geo-fencing

Set Avast Geofencing on your phone to protect it from theft while you are occupied.

 

9. Be aware of what permissions apps require

Why should a flashlight app need access to your contacts? Why would a calculator need access to your photos and videos? Shady apps will try to upload your address book and your location to advertising servers or could send premium SMS that will cost you money. You need to pay attention before installing or, at least, uninstall problematic apps. It’s not easy to find a way (if any) to manage permissions in a non-rooted Android phone.

We have written about this before as apps could abuse the permissions requests not only while installing but also on updating. Read more to learn and be cautious: Google Play Store changes opens door to cybercrooks.

10. Keep your device up-to-date

Google can release security updates using their services running in your devices. Developers can do the same via an app update. Allow updates to prevent vulnerabilities, the same as you do in your computer. But pay attention to any changes. See tip #9.

11. Encryption

You can encrypt your account, settings, apps and their data, media and other files. Android allows this in its Security settings. Without your lockscreen PIN, password or gesture, nobody will be able to decrypt your data. So, don’t forget your PIN! Nevertheless, this won’t encrypt the data sent or received by your phone. Read the next tip for that.

12. In open/public Wi-Fi, use a VPN to protect your communication

Cybercrooks can have access to all your data in a public, open or free Wi-Fi hotspot at the airport or in a cafe. Avast gives you the ability to protect all inbound and outbound data of your devices with a secure, encrypted and easy-to-use VPN called Avast SecureLine. Learn more about it here.

13. Set the extra features of Lollipop (Android 5)

If you’re with Android Lollipop (v5), you can set a user profile to allow multiple users of the same device. You can create a restricted user profile that will keep your apps from being messed with by your kids or your spouse.

You can also pin the screen and allow other users to only see that particular screen and nothing more. It will prevent your friends and coworkers from accidentally (or on purpose) looking into your device.

14. Backup. Backup. Backup.

Well, our last tip is common digital sense. If everything fails, have a Plan B, and C and D… With Avast Mobile Backup you can protect all your data: contacts, call logs, messages, all your media files (photos, musics and videos) and your apps (with their data if you’re rooted) in safe servers. If your device gets broken, lost or stolen, everything will be there, encrypted and safe, for you to restore to your new device.

Have you followed all our tips? Are you feeling safe? Do you have an extra protection or privacy tip? Please, leave a comment below.