Virus/Malware on my Galaxy S3

[ShrewLlama]

First off, sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm a little paranoid...

Stupidly without thinking, I downloaded a .apk file off the internet and hit "Install".
The file was for some patch or something and was tiny (7KB).

I launched it and it did absolutely nothing - and then my brain kicked in and I immediately uninstalled+deleted it.

I then went through and searched for any files it may have created - none - and made sure no processes or apps I never used before were running in the Application Settings.

I also installed three Anti-virus apps (Lookout, AVG AntiVirus and avast!), scanned with all of them - and all came out fine.

My question is - is this enough? Or do I need to reinstall the OS/reset data?

My phone is a Galaxy S3, running stock ROM and *not* rooted.

Thanks.

 

[patruns]

No, you are not being paranoid. If you don't have a lot on your phone yet and want piece of mind, by all means do a factory reset. Otherwise, just continue as usual and keep an eye out for anything unusual.

 

[ShrewLlama]

Okay, thanks.

I do have a lot on my phone, so I don't really want to do a reset unless absolutely necessary.

Is there anything specific I should look out for?

And even if there are no extra processes shown as running and three anti-virus programs all are negative could there possibly be a chance that a bugger of a program could be hiding somewhere?

Also, what sort of virus/malware could be in a 7KB file?

Thanks.

 

[ShrewLlama]

I also have checked: there are no device administrative applications that I have not approved, both visible and hidden.

And one more question; is it possible for processes/apps to run without appearing in the active applications list, or will the system display everything that is running.

Thanks.

 

[ShrewLlama]

...and can I get a virus like that if I'm not rooted?

 

[Nuwan]

You're being paranoid. Even though it's not impossible, it's next to impossible for somebody to upload malware into the system. Android is Linux based and not Windows. Even if somebody somehow put a virus into the system, Google has a kill switch. Like an on/off button that'll wipe it out of the system and off of any device that downloaded it. And also you don't really need antivirus but i use Lookout for peace of mind and as a back up for device manager for it's tracking feature. That's why all the big antivirus apps like Lookout and Avast gives you other features with their antivirus. I've had Androids since the first one the original Motorola Droid. All of them rooted and i had zero virus problems. I haven't really looked into this that much but as far as i know using more than one antivirus is not recommended by the experts. All the processes are in the running apps screen. Rooting can give you one advantage as far as i know and that's with Avast. Avast can make a rooted device hard reset proof. Meaning if your phone gets stolen they can't do a factory reset to get rid of it. It gets installed in the recovery partition i think and you'll still be able to track your phone. You have to disguise the app so the bad guys don't know it's there.

 

[lutii]

dude stop smoking drugs!this may result in that the viruses will not only cockroaches but android s head climb