Who uses utility tools and Antivirus apps

[Rmbrown1964]

I have heard people say not to use any cleaning apps or Antivirus because it will slow the phone down. Who uses them? And if you don't explain why thank you.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[12345notebook]

an antivirus will always slow down your phone/pc a little because it always runs in the background to detect incoming malware. You probably wont notice it though, and with today's malware and virus attacks you should definitely use an antivirus, no questions asked!!
As with cleaning tools - the danger is that it might erase something important to you or an essential element of your apps/phone. But that's a pretty minor risk, if you download form a known provider.

 

[srkmagnus]

I have heard people say not to use any cleaning apps or Antivirus because it will slow the phone down. Who uses them? And if you don't explain why thank you.

Posted via the Android Central App

Not me. Only I know what I want cleaned/cleared, so I'll go through and do it manually from time-to-time or factory reset. The reset is good because it'll clear out stuff I haven't used in a while and doesn't require use of another app to run in the background.

 

[daiwolf]

an antivirus will always slow down your phone/pc a little because it always runs in the background to detect incoming malware. You probably wont notice it though, and with today's malware and virus attacks you should definitely use an antivirus, no questions asked!!
As with cleaning tools - the danger is that it might erase something important to you or an essential element of your apps/phone. But that's a pretty minor risk, if you download form a known provider.

I use vipre does not slow the phone down

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[dedhedAndy]

I've never used antivirus or cleaner. I didn't think there were viruses on android phone. Maybe malware or a Rogue app but I have never had a problem on any android phone.

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[muzzy996]

I don't think everyone has to have antivirus on their devices. I'd say if you're the type to try out new applications frequently without verifying they are clean (either by research or thoroughly reading reviews on the app store), or you venture out to random websites with lots of popups then consideration for antivirus/antimalware software should be made.

For me, I prefer to have as little overhead on my devices as possible to make sure battery life and performance is optimized. Safe use is the way to go IMO. I'm not the type to go hunting around for free apps or surf on random sites that put my device at risk so I really have never had the need to worry on my android devices. I'm rooted and I take the impact of that choice seriously when it comes to placing myself at risk.

 

[12345notebook]

I'll just say one last thing to sum it up - The less you know about computer software the more you should invest in anti spyware/malware. The opposite is true about auto-cleaners: The less you know about what you're erasing, the more you should stay away from this stuff.

 

[Rmbrown1964]

an antivirus will always slow down your phone/pc a little because it always runs in the background to detect incoming malware. You probably wont notice it though, and with today's malware and virus attacks you should definitely use an antivirus, no questions asked!!
As with cleaning tools - the danger is that it might erase something important to you or an essential element of your apps/phone. But that's a pretty minor risk, if you download form a known provider.

Thank you very good comment.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[natehoy]

Anti-virus, if it is a good one, is a good idea. It will drain a little battery and slow your device down a bit, for sure, but nothing says "battery drain" like a bit'o'malware that is sending all your data to a server. Not to mention the impact to your data plan and possibly your credit rating. If you stick to apps from the Play Store and take care to stick with apps in there that have a lot of users, you probably don't NEED AV, but with the solutions out there, it really doesn't hurt to have one.

My AT&T Note 4 came with Lookout Free - it scans everything as I am installing it and scans the phone from time to time. I have no idea if it is the absolute best AV, but I can't uninstall it, so it's what I use.


As far as cleaners, there are bascially two kinds, and you have to be aware of the difference between them.

A "memory cleaner" pulls apps out of memory to keep as much free RAM as possible. That's useful, because the app you just killed needs somewhere to be loaded back in to memory .00000001 seconds later when it needs to perform its next step. So your phone isn't sitting idle conserving battery and managing memory - nosiree Bob! You're getting your money's worth out of that CPU by having two memory management systems (Android and whatever you installed) duking it out on your phone.

A "cache cleaner" goes through and presses "Setup"/"General"/"Storage"/"Cached Data" and clears the app cache for you on a regular basis. This is generally harmless, since the app that just cached the data stored there can just go back out to the Internet and get the data again (caution: You probably don't want to use these on a limited data plan). It is even somewhat beneficial, as this cached data can sometimes get old and gunky and slow your phone down. But, you know, you could just press "Setup"/"General"/"Storage"/"Cached Data" and clear the cache yourself once a week, and get the same benefits without an app taking up (small amounts of) CPU and RAM to do that for you. And you get to choose when you do this - so you could do it on WiFi and then launch the apps that need to re-cache decent amounts of data, for example, and save your data plan.


Net result - with a very teeny amount of effort you really don't need any cleaners of any kind. Any real need for any of them went away when Eclair did. Froyo was really good at this sort of thing, and it's only gotten better since. But AV, yeah, get you some of that and give it a go.

 

[Rmbrown1964]

Anti-virus, if it is a good one, is a good idea. It will drain a little battery and slow your device down a bit, for sure, but nothing says "battery drain" like a bit'o'malware that is sending all your data to a server. Not to mention the impact to your data plan and possibly your credit rating. If you stick to apps from the Play Store and take care to stick with apps in there that have a lot of users, you probably don't NEED AV, but with the solutions out there, it really doesn't hurt to have one.

My AT&T Note 4 came with Lookout Free - it scans everything as I am installing it and scans the phone from time to time. I have no idea if it is the absolute best AV, but I can't uninstall it, so it's what I use.


As far as cleaners, there are bascially two kinds, and you have to be aware of the difference between them.

A "memory cleaner" pulls apps out of memory to keep as much free RAM as possible. That's useful, because the app you just killed needs somewhere to be loaded back in to memory .00000001 seconds later when it needs to perform its next step. So your phone isn't sitting idle conserving battery and managing memory - nosiree Bob! You're getting your money's worth out of that CPU by having two memory management systems (Android and whatever you installed) duking it out on your phone.

A "cache cleaner" goes through and presses "Setup"/"General"/"Storage"/"Cached Data" and clears the app cache for you on a regular basis. This is generally harmless, since the app that just cached the data stored there can just go back out to the Internet and get the data again (caution: You probably don't want to use these on a limited data plan). It is even somewhat beneficial, as this cached data can sometimes get old and gunky and slow your phone down. But, you know, you could just press "Setup"/"General"/"Storage"/"Cached Data" and clear the cache yourself once a week, and get the same benefits without an app taking up (small amounts of) CPU and RAM to do that for you. And you get to choose when you do this - so you could do it on WiFi and then launch the apps that need to re-cache decent amounts of data, for example, and save your data plan.


Net result - with a very teeny amount of effort you really don't need any cleaners of any kind. Any real need for any of them went away when Eclair did. Froyo was really good at this sort of thing, and it's only gotten better since. But AV, yeah, get you some of that and give it a go.

Thank you good read!

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