Anti virus for an Android smartphone

[Novel8]

New to mobile phones and am invaded by constant interruptions via apps wanting to be installed and phone security apps begging to be used, and asking permission to delete an apk files. I suspect i have Malware and hopefully get a good anti virus app. I see so many of them i am confused. Some are free and others asking for a monthly charge subscription. Would appreciate some feedback on this problem. Like i said earlier, this is my first mobile phone...Nokia G300

[evilfantasy]

First go into your apps and uninstall anything you didn't install or anything you think might be causing the notifications.

Dr.Web Light has always been my favorite. It's free and trustworthy.


After running Dr. Web go into your settings again and open Notifications > App notifications. In there you can disable any app from pushing notifications.

[Allan]

If you choose to go the paid route, Bit Defender is universally rated as the best AV for android phones.

[Novel8]

First go into your apps and uninstall anything you didn't install or anything you think might be causing the notifications.

Dr.Web Light has always been my favorite. It's free and trustworthy.


After running Dr. Web go into your settings again and open Notifications > App notifications. In there you can disable any app from pushing notifications.

I installed Dr webb and allowed in notification all files....so how does it start doing its thing?

[evilfantasy]

Run a scan. Quick scan should do. After that it is protecting in real time.

[Novel8]

I did a Full scan first and then followed with the other two options and still see invasive apps and ADs. One constantly about phone security and clean up junk. Storm optimizer keeps asking to scan my phone. Is it a anti Malware app?

[evilfantasy]

I'm assuming this is an Android? It's hard to know without seeing the notification. Can you post a screen shot of the notification drawer pulled down?

• Pull down the notifications.
• Press and hold the Power and Volume down buttons at the same time for a few seconds.
• It will be saved in My Files.
• Post the screenshot here.

It will look something like this.

https://postimg.cc/tnyRYxLD

You can also use the little dropdown arrows next to each notification to get more information on each notification and maybe figure out where it is coming from.


Also in my experience notifications that are annoying usually come from something you downloaded like a game or shady app. You might try looking at the apps you have downloaded and uninstall them one at a time to see if the notifications go away.


If all else fails then backup any personal files like pictures and documents then reset the phone to factory. Then be very selective on what apps you install. Also social media apps are notorious for pushing all kinds of junk notifications.

[Novel8]

I did the screenshot but our 'chat' is being done on my desktop...so i mailed the SS to my email inbox and as of this writing it has not appeared on thunderbird. How can i send it to you via my phone, if it does not appear in thunderbird? As for your other questions   ....i am not a gamer and i do not intentionally install any apps, but i have quite a few unfamiliar to me. Some i guess are standard. In reset would i lose my photos....? How do i upload a SS here from my phone to computerhope site. I just checked my spam folder ...nothing shown there either.

[evilfantasy]

On your phone go to https://postimages.org/ and select Choose images (no account needed). It will open a window to navigate to the photo and upload it. Copy and paste the first link here.

Does your computer have bluetooth? Right click the Bluetooth icon and select Receive a file. Then send the image from the phone to the computer with the Share option. Or connect the phone to the computer with a USB the go to My Computer or This PC and you can view the files on the phone. Copy/paste the photo onto your computer wherever you want.

In reset would i lose my photos....?

Yes. You would want to connect the phone to the computer by USB and copy/paste them from the phone onto the computer. After the reset you can put them back onto the phone if you want to. Or back them up online using the Google Photos app.

[Novel8]

I'm sorry...been trying to do all you suggested but this phone and its interruptions make it impossible to try them. I got as far as bluetooth and it says there is nothing, and yet i have many photos shown in google's photo app. I connected the usb cable to the pc and all i see  was the name of my phone Nokia, but no files shown. I click on Chrome and all i get is youtube. I guess I have to do reset first and maybe then i could have a non intrusive layout to carry out your suggestions. BTW,  that file I shared with my pc never did show up...so what does that say about my phone? Any ideas? Also as i am writing this, the phones notification keep 'ringing' one after another. Is there a way to stop being notified with that sound? Thanks for your patients.   
After closing this post i realized that my photos can be seen on my google website on my computer and sure enough even that last screenshot was shown. How could i send it from there without boring you with all my pics? Is there a way?

[evilfantasy]

When you plug the phone into the computer swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the little arrow next to the USB. You should be able to tap that setting and select "Use for file transfer" or something like that then you should be able to open the Internal storage and SD Card (if you have one) and get to your pictures.

and yet i have many photos shown in google's photo app

Your pictures are backed up online then. Go to https://photos.google.com/ and you should see them. If you do reset the phone to factory they will still be there when you open the Google photo app. You can download them back onto your phone if you want.

BTW,  that file I shared with my pc never did show up...so what does that say about my phone?

Nothing. I seem I always have problems emailing things to myself also. They just never show up. That's why file transfer with USB and Bluetooth come in so handy.

After closing this post i realized that my photos can be seen on my google website on my computer and sure enough even that last screenshot was shown. How could i send it from there without boring you with all my pics? Is there a way?

Open a picture on the computer and click the little Share icon (three pronged icon) in the upper right of the screen. In that window on the bottom left it says "Create link". Click that and copy/paste the link here.


Either that or right click the image and save it to your computer and upload it to https://postimages.org/


I'm not sure that will be necessary though. With the amount of notifications you are getting and you can't disable them in your Notification settings then resetting the phone might be the best option.

[Novel8]

I noticed one of the problems when in a forum, the messages don't make some sense because as I understood it, all android phones are not identical to a certain degree. ..ie   you give me suggestions which i try to follow and yer i do not see what you are telling me...perhaps it also has to do with what version system has or what browser or what OS....i am still using win 7, only because its the only system i have, but that is another story. I think i managed what your suggested by adding an attached screenshot that i had taken yesterday. Also, i noticed that upon using the phone this morning, the notifications were still there, but on a slower note. I somehow came across ( don't know how ) of what seemed snippets of youtube videos for 3/4 of an hour and not one interruption of notifications. I know that my photos are safe, but its my contacts that i don't want to lose on a reset. I clicked on Systems/Backup and do not see how i can backup Contacts. Sorry for the long post.

[evilfantasy]

Yea that looks completely different from what I see on my Android. But if you click on the Notifications (Notification history, bubbles, recently sent) it should open up a new screen with options to turn on or off whatever notifications are actively being pushed. Turn off notifications for any app you think might be pushing the ads.

its my contacts that i don't want to lose on a reset.

You are logged into Google so your contacts are saved. As soon as you log back into Google on any device or any browser your contacts will sync. You can see them here to make sure. https://contacts.google.com/

all android phones are not identical to a certain degree

True. The only way I know what I know is by Googling questions and then just clicking on things in the settings and figuring it out as I go. And don't feel bad. I've used Android for YEARS but when I finally upgraded my phone at the first of the year I had to reset it a week later because I had messed it up so bad I couldn't even open the phone dialer. 


I looked around the Google store and found this. Notification Blocker & Cleaner. It might be a big help in your situation.

[Novel8]

I opened the Notification site and didn't see much of anything with a few exceptions and i took no chances and just turned what was there off...but i did not see any sign of the notifications i am still getting, such as Phone security, and others that keep asking me for them to clean up my junk and my phone. I installed that Notification app you suggested.....its quieted down somewhat compared to last night, wondering if i should go ahead still  do a hard reset. BTW, you asked me if i had a sim card...i do...any reason why you asked?

[evilfantasy]

Not a sim card but an SD card or MicroSD card slot that allows for extra storage. I looked online and it looks like the Nokia G300 does have an SD card slot that will allow for up to 1tb of external storage. That comes in useful if you want to put a bunch of MP3s on your phone or if you will be taking a bunch of pictures. Just change the default storage from internal to external and anything you save or download, like pictures, will go to the external SD card instead of the internal storage that is 64gb. 64gb seems like a lot but it really isn't once you start downloading apps and take a lot of pictures. The SD card isn't necessary but it's there if you need it. Also with a sim card you can save everything like pictures, documents and music to it and it acts as a backup.




After turning off all notifications you can now go back and turn them on 1 at a time to see if you can figure out what app is sending the notifications. It might happen as soon as you turn it back on or you might have to wait a while until it sends them. Once you figure it out you can turn the notifications back off for that app.