If you receive an email or social media message out of the blue, treat it with suspicion. Never click the links it contains and do not accept any files or downloads. Hackers often create infected versions of official apps. These apps are distributed using unofficial app repositories.
For this reason, it is essential that you always stick to downloading apps from an official app store like Google Play. Even using a relatively safe third-party app store, such as F-Droid, does carry some risks, and its developers acknowledge this by explaining that you use it at your own risk. Watching your URL bar to ensure that the address does not look suspect is a vital method for ensuring good online health.
Many fake and cloned websites of genuine services exist, and it is vital to always check the URL for signs of deception. These symbols ensure that you are using websites that are secure against eavesdropping.
So monitor the address and if in doubt, use an online tool like Google Safe Browsing , or an antivirus with a secure browsing feature to ensure the domain is safe.
A Virtual Private Network is designed to provide online privacy by encrypting all your data before it leaves your device. This stops your ISP from tracking your web browsing habits and stops government authorities from placing you under constant surveillance.
In addition, a VPN ensures security on public Wi-Fi by stopping hackers from being able to intercept your data. It also protects your IP address from being discovered by hackers who may potentially attempt to probe your network for vulnerabilities.
A strong password is needed for every single online account you use. Password repetition allows hackers to easily break into multiple accounts, and it is important to ensure that you have a unique password for every single service. Remembering a truly robust password for every service is too tricky, which is why we recommend you use a password manager. Looking for something? Written by Ray Walsh.
How to Torrent safely on Android. How to check app permissions on Android and iOS. However, we think this one is better for those who just want something simple. There is advertising, though. Dr Web is one of the older antivirus apps and anti-malware apps.
It has a decent set of features, including quick and full scans, protection from ransomware, a quarantine space, and even stats. Along with that, it has good anti-theft features, call and SMS filtering, URL filtering, parental controls, a firewall, and more. The lifetime license is a tad pricey, but it is an opportunity to get away from the monthly subscription if you want. ESET is another big name in the antivirus and anti-malware world.
It has a decent set of features, including scans, anti-theft support, a security auditor feature, scan scheduling, and more.
The setup process is a bit intrusive. Otherwise, it works pretty well. You get a free one month trial upon installation. Kaspersky is one of the most popular antivirus apps. It has both a free and pro version. Both versions offer SMS and call blocking, scans, virus updates, and anti-theft. The premium version adds things like real-time protection, an applock, and more. Of course, both versions have device scanning for malware and stuff like that.
The subscription pricing is relatively cheap if you only need support for one device. There are optional tiers for five devices and ten devices that can get pretty expensive. Lookout is another popular antivirus and anti-malware app. It comes pre-installed on many devices, especially on carriers like T-Mobile. It does the basics fairly well. That includes scans, phishing protection, malware protection, anti-theft features, and more. It also comes with some unique stuff like identity protection, identity insurance, and WiFi scanning.
To keep your device safe from all of these threats, you need to have a good Android antivirus with real-time protection, web protection, anti-theft tools, and other additional features. If you want a free antivirus, go with Avira. Most antivirus apps also offer additional paid premium features, and for every free app out there, there are dozens more premium apps. Professional Reviews. Affiliate Commissions. Reviews Guidelines. Ben Martens Updated on: November 1, This article contains.
Short on time? Panda Dome — Good malware scanner with Android smartwatch compatibility. Kaspersky — Intuitive app with a good scanner but no real-time protection. Traced — Privacy-focused app with a good Wi-Fi network scanner.
Here are a few well-known brands you may have been expecting to see on this list: Norton. TotalAV offers a good set of free features for Android, but it lacks real-time malware protection. While Avast and AVG maintain a widespread web presence, they were implicated in some pretty serious privacy violations. Yet there's little third-party lab-test data on Lookout's antivirus efficiency, so we don't really know how well it protects against malware.
Sadly, it's terrible at protecting against malware. Use something else. The best Android antivirus apps offer not only top-notch malware detection and prevention, but also a range of privacy and anti-theft features. They can track your phone or tablet via GPS, snap a picture of a phone thief with the device's camera, and even use your Android Wear smartwatch to locate your phone. For malware protection on other platforms, be sure to visit our pages on the best antivirus software and the best Mac antivirus.
Bitdefender's Android security app has nearly flawless malware protection, a very light performance impact, Android Wear watch integration, a VPN client and a malicious-website blocker that works with most Android browsers. It also has robust privacy-protection tools, including an app lock, a Wi-Fi scanner, anti-theft features and data-breach notifications. A newly added feature, Scam Alert, flags possibly malicious links in SMS text messages, messaging apps and screen notifications.
Bitdefender Mobile Security offers a day trial period, but this is not a freemium app. The separate Bitdefender Antivirus Free for Android app which is indeed totally free only scans for malware. The built-in VPN client gives you only MB of free data per data — just enough to check your email while traveling. It's our choice for the best Android antivirus app. Read our full Bitdefender Mobile Security review.
Norton Mobile Security, aka Norton , offers the best malware protection of any of the Android antivirus apps we tested. Unfortunately, it no longer has anti-theft functions, nor its contacts backups and Link Guard malicious-link blocker.
Norton also killed Norton Mobile Security's free tier, which was the best among all the Android antivirus apps we'd recently tested. All of these subscriptions can be paid for right through the Norton app, which has a day free trial period. Norton's killer feature is the unique App Advisor, which checks apps on your device for heavy data usage and unusual behavior. It also checks apps in the Google Play store for security and privacy risks even before you install them.
Read our full Norton Mobile Security review. But while Avast's malware protection is good, it's far from perfect. Some of Avast's anti-theft functions didn't work for us, and its call-blocking feature didn't work at all. It's since been removed. And the free version's ads and constant nags to upgrade are annoying and intrusive.
Users of either paid plan also get additional anti-theft features, an app locker and tech support. Read our full Avast Mobile Security review. Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus, also known as Kaspersky Internet Security for Android, offers nearly-perfect malware protection, a small system impact and a call blocker that actually works.
There are no ads in the free version, and not much nagging to upgrade to the paid plan. Free users get call filtering, Android Wear support and a strong set of anti-theft functions, but you have to scan each new app manually.
Paying users get automatic scans of new apps, an app lock and blocking of known phishing websites. And that's about it. There's no Wi-Fi network scanner and none of the privacy tools that other Android antivirus apps now offer. If you're just looking for malware protection, you can't really go wrong with Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus's free tier.
0コメント