Hi everyone
I really hope someone can help me out with this. I looked up all over the internet for a solution but I did not even find a similar question, let alone the answer.
I have an old Galaxy S4 that I don't use anymore but there is some data on it that I really want to retrieve. About almost a year ago, I wanted to transfer my data, including SMS to my PC from my Galaxy S4, so I searched for a free software with which I could do a data transfer between my phone and PC. I had used a paid version of Wondershare MobileGo before which was expired and I didn't want to pay for it again.
So somehow in my search I ended up on Wondershare's website where they had a list of recommended free softwares. I even wondered why they were advertising free softwares when they had a paid version of their own. But I somehow trusted them and installed a free app on my phone to do the data transfer. Within a minute or so, this free app installed some other app and soon I had 2 to 3 unwanted apps on my phone. I uninstalled those apps but either during this or just after uninstalling those apps my phone got bombarded with these pop up / warning messages that look similar to genuine Android warning messages and they say:
"Unfortunately, phone has stopped working."
"Samsung keyboard has stopped working."
These messages keep popping one after the other non stop. The 2nd message does not appear when I first start the phone but the 1st one pops up non stop as soon as turn on my phone, even in safe mode. I have to keep tapping "OK", so basically I am unable to do anything on my phone. I am only able to tap anywhere else after I press "OK" and before the next pop up message appears, which is a fraction of a second's time.
Also, as soon as I get a connection to internet, I notice that the malware/trojan or whatever it is installs other apps on the phone.
I tried booting in the safe mode, but the message still keeps popping and i am unable to do much. I didn't really find apps that I could uninstall.
Also, I went to the Device Administrators under Settings > Security and I did not find any app that I can uncheck. There is a suspicious app called "Android Pay" in the list which was not there before. In fact it appeared after the last time I connected my phone to wifi. But it is already unchecked, and I don't see any option of removing it from the list under Device Administrators.
What could this be? I have kept that old phone just so I can get that data and I really need to get this phone working without losing my data. Is there an antivirus or malware removal app that may work? I may not be able to use the play store, since I have to log in to my google account, as I have not used the phone for a long time. But with the pop up message that keeps popping I am not able to access the keyboard. I am not sure if the keyboard app even works.
I thought Wondershare was legit, but it turns out they screw people up by referring them to apps that bring malware/virus with them, so people are forced to use their apps like Dr. Fone.
Any help would be appreciated and sorry for such a long message, but I wanted to make it clear as to what is going on. It may help others in the future.
I really hope someone can help me out with this. I looked up all over the internet for a solution but I did not even find a similar question, let alone the answer.
I have an old Galaxy S4 that I don't use anymore but there is some data on it that I really want to retrieve. About almost a year ago, I wanted to transfer my data, including SMS to my PC from my Galaxy S4, so I searched for a free software with which I could do a data transfer between my phone and PC. I had used a paid version of Wondershare MobileGo before which was expired and I didn't want to pay for it again.
So somehow in my search I ended up on Wondershare's website where they had a list of recommended free softwares. I even wondered why they were advertising free softwares when they had a paid version of their own. But I somehow trusted them and installed a free app on my phone to do the data transfer. Within a minute or so, this free app installed some other app and soon I had 2 to 3 unwanted apps on my phone. I uninstalled those apps but either during this or just after uninstalling those apps my phone got bombarded with these pop up / warning messages that look similar to genuine Android warning messages and they say:
"Unfortunately, phone has stopped working."
"Samsung keyboard has stopped working."
These messages keep popping one after the other non stop. The 2nd message does not appear when I first start the phone but the 1st one pops up non stop as soon as turn on my phone, even in safe mode. I have to keep tapping "OK", so basically I am unable to do anything on my phone. I am only able to tap anywhere else after I press "OK" and before the next pop up message appears, which is a fraction of a second's time.
Also, as soon as I get a connection to internet, I notice that the malware/trojan or whatever it is installs other apps on the phone.
I tried booting in the safe mode, but the message still keeps popping and i am unable to do much. I didn't really find apps that I could uninstall.
Also, I went to the Device Administrators under Settings > Security and I did not find any app that I can uncheck. There is a suspicious app called "Android Pay" in the list which was not there before. In fact it appeared after the last time I connected my phone to wifi. But it is already unchecked, and I don't see any option of removing it from the list under Device Administrators.
What could this be? I have kept that old phone just so I can get that data and I really need to get this phone working without losing my data. Is there an antivirus or malware removal app that may work? I may not be able to use the play store, since I have to log in to my google account, as I have not used the phone for a long time. But with the pop up message that keeps popping I am not able to access the keyboard. I am not sure if the keyboard app even works.
I thought Wondershare was legit, but it turns out they screw people up by referring them to apps that bring malware/virus with them, so people are forced to use their apps like Dr. Fone.
Any help would be appreciated and sorry for such a long message, but I wanted to make it clear as to what is going on. It may help others in the future.
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