How to remove Malware from Android?


In the modern world, smartphones have become an immovable part of everyone's life. It contains almost everything important to a person, for example, banking apps, navigational apps, utility apps, and more. It is, therefore, more than essential to safeguard smartphones at any cost to protects the owner's privacy.

Like computers, Android smartphones can also get infected with malicious programs such as viruses, trojans, spyware, adware, and others. Android malware is mainly intended for stealing sensitive information, misguiding users by showing irrelevant ads, and redirecting them to malicious websites. They can infiltrate the device in many ways; for example, users can install thinking of them as useful apps.

In this post, we would discuss how malware can enter your Android device, what actions it can perform, the signs of infections, and how to remove malware from Android.

How can Malware infiltrate your device?

To get an entry into a device, a malware program needs a medium. In order to spread the malware program to a larger group of people, cybercriminals always choose a medium that is popular and used by many. Here are the top ways a malicious program might enter your Android devices:

  • Installing an application from unsafe, untrustworthy sources like third-party app stores.

  • Downloading media files from the suspicious sites

  • Torrents are used by millions of people. It is, therefore, one of the biggest sources of malware spreading on Android.

  • Clicking on eye-catching ads and pop-ups might trigger the malware installation on your Android phone. Such pop-ups are intentionally made attractive to gain the maximum clicks.

  • Opening and clicking the links of an infected email sent by a stranger and downloading the attachment can lead to malware infection.

How can Malware harm your Android devices?

A malware infiltration can be very infectious for your Android smart devices. It can create havoc once it gets an entry.

  • Malware can collect and send sensitive data such as banking credentials, contacts list, location, and more.

  • Send SMS to premium rate text services for generating revenue.

  • Display advertisements of unintentional places like lock screen, application, and similar.

  • Download other malware on your phones, such as cryptojacker and spyware.

  • Modify the browser and set it to promote a particular search engine or page

  • Record your voice calls

  • Slow down and hang your device by eating up its resources

  • Lock your files and folders with strong encryption using a Ransomware program

What are the indications of a Malware Attack?

After entering your system, malware would show certain symptoms that would confirm its presence.

  • Your perfectly running phone would suddenly start to hang.

  • The phone will respond slowly to your actions, and applications would take a longer time to load.

  • The battery would drain faster than usual.

  • Your phone would consume unnecessary data, which means you will see an unnatural surge in data usage.

  • The phone would be overheating without much usage.

  • You will find applications on your phone that you don't remember installing.

  • While browsing, you will get unnecessary pop-ups.

How to remove malware from Android?

To detect and remove the malware from your Android devices, follow these steps:

Note: Steps can be different for different phone manufacturers. Look for similar steps on your phone.

  • Enter the Safe Mode on your device. For that, press and hold the power button, then touch and hold the power icon on your screen. This will restart your phone in the Safe Mode.

  • To ensure that the phone is started in the Safe Mode, notice that you will only have access to the system apps. You will also see the Safe Mode mark at the bottom of the screen.

  • Now you have to remove all the suspicious applications from your device. Start uninstalling them one by one.

  • After the removal, restart the device in the normal mode and check if the problem persists.

  • If you don't want to take the pain of removing the malware manually, you can get the antimalware solutions to do that work. They are designed specifically for detecting and eliminating malicious programs and codes.

Tips to keep Malware Away from your device

It is better to keep the dangerous malware programs away from the device rather than dealing with them after their infiltration. Here are few preventive tips:

  • Download and install apps from the trusted sources only like the Google Play Store

  • Make sure that all of your applications are updated with the latest version.

  • Also, keep your operating system updated to fix any potential loopholes.

  • Never use the unprotected, opened public WiFi. If it is urgent, use a VPN along with that.

  • Avoid visiting suspicious sites for freeware. Also, avoid downloading from torrent sites.

Updated on: 18-Mar-2021

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