Tips for a Malware-Free Android Smartphone

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Philip_Edwards_Hausner]Philip Edwards Hausner

Since malware is increasingly rising for the Android platform day by day, you must pay firm attention to what is going on your phone or tablet. Smartphones are basically computers - and all PCs are at risk to viruses, phishing, including various attacks from malicious software.

Here are quick ways to keep your Android phone free of malware

Find out the app's publisher: What other apps does the publisher offer? Does the publisher run its own website? What are the kinds of apps on offer, do they look fishy? If so, you may probably consider staying away. Go through online reviews, but take note that Android Market reviews should not be fully trusted. Browse through to see what highly regarded websites like AppBrain, PCWorld, or AppLib are saying about such like app before you click on the download button.

Always authenticate app permissions: Before you download or update an app, you should see a list of consents for it.  For example, an alarm clock app perhaps shouldn't need to look on your contacts. The general law of thumb: If an app is requesting for too much what it requires to do, then it's advisable to skip it.

Stay away from directly installing Android Package files (APKs): for example when Angry Birds came to Android initially, you could download it only by using a third-party app store and "sideloading" it, having the app installed by using an APK file. Even though Angry Birds wasn't malware, as a general rule it's not recommended downloading and installing APK files from third-party sites or app stores. Usually you won't notice what the file contains until you've finally installed the file - and by then it will be too late.

Have a malware and antivirus scanner installed on your phone:a number of different big-name security companies by now offer mobile-security solutions, which several of them are free. Antivirus apps for example the "Lookout Mobile Security" can scan your smartphone and be certain that no malware is installed.  In addition, most of the utilities have features that allow you to trace your phone - and conceivably even remotely lock it and clean your personal data, if you'll end up losing the handset.

Watch out for scams:whether you agree, your   rel=nofollow [http://www.merimobiles.com]Android phone is prone to malicious sites, phishing scams, which are driven by downloads, similar to PCs. Malicious sites regularly try to cheat people into entering sensitive personal information; even more frustrating, still, is some sites' ability to go ahead and automatically download malware right to your phone.  Since most phones are small, hence the smaller screen; and users more likely to click a wary link on a phone than when browsing using a PC.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-for-a-Malware-Free-Android-Smartphone&id=6578332] Tips for a Malware-Free Android Smartphone