Why are apps installing themselves again and again after deleting them?

[AC Question]

Apps installing themselves again and again after deleting them

Daily Racing, Clean Doctor, Clean Master, TouchPal all have ended up on my Galaxy S5 without me installing them. Each will reinstall themselves a few minutes after I uninstall them. AVG finds the first 3 apps to be 'unwanted programs' Lookout finds no faults with any of them. What app is controlling them? and how do I delete them for good? Noticed them a few weeks ago and uninstalled them, a few days later they were back. Now it does it in minutes, phone is becoming unusable because AVG keeps popping up to tell me there back. Its like the Poltergeist movie 'their here!'

 

[Crashdamage]

Re: Apps installing themselves again and again after deleting them

You have installed a form of malware. It may be something you downloaded from an unreliable source, but even some supposedly legitimate software is obnoxious to the point it can be classified as malware. Read this thread for more explanation:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=530007

DO NOT use any task killers, RAM memory optimizers/boosters, battery savers/repairers, cache cleaners, antivirus, etc etc. None of that stuff is necessary. Very likely the cause of your trouble was installation of one or more of this type of app, but such hijacking of devices is not limited just to them.

You can try to clear the phone up by manually deleting all suspicious crapware. Do it properly: Settings > Apps > Clear cache > Clear data > Uninstall. It's worth a try, but chances are it will take a factory reset to clear it up. And it's possible even a reset won't get rid off all of it.

DO NOT install any of these apps again! Most such apps are actually counterproductive and some are just plain evil, as you found out. They actually waste power and disrupt critical system processes and degrade performance.

Android is excellent at handling running processes and memory with no help from 3rd-party apps or user assistance.

Just let Android do it's job as intended, relax and enjoy your phone.


Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[Bugoff75]

Re: Apps installing themselves again and again after deleting them

Thank you for the reply and information. I'm well aware of 'that' type of app which is why I'm confused as to where it came from and what keeps trying to reinstall it from the start. On google play if I access Clean Master it tells me it was not installed from google play but I can use google to uninstall it. Once I left my home network wifi today the auto installs stopped. Could something on my PC be doing this? I was connected to it this morning and had SnapPea running to sort thru photos.

 

[Crashdamage]

Re: Apps installing themselves again and again after deleting them

Ya got me. I suppose it's *possible* something on your PC could be causing trouble. Not familiar with Snap.Pea

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[alverman]

Hi, I have the same problem and me too I use SnapPea. I strongly suspect it's the one to blame, since this started after a major SP upgrade. It also installs repeatedly SnapTube. I'll try disinstalling it and see what happens.

 

[Bugoff75]

So thats where SnapTube came from. Didn't remember installing that app either but wasn't sure cause sometimes I get install crazy and install a bunch at one time.