Malware is yet to be a huge problem for Android, but it's
always better to be safe than sorry
Generally speaking you can get away without
installing antivirus on an Android phone or
tablet, but there are malicious apps to be
found outside the Google Play store, and installing
them is as simple as unticking a box in the Settings
that lets you download apps from unknown sources.
Plus, Android is now the most popular mobile OS in
the world and, as we saw with Windows, that means
it will become increasingly attractive to wrongdoers.
Since AVG antivirus is available for free, you might
as well play it safe and install it
Launch the Google Play store on your phone or
tablet. You probably have an icon for this on your
home screen; if not, open the apps menu and look
for what looks like a white shopping bag with a
triangular icon on top. If this i
s the fi rst time you've opened Google Play you
will be prompted to accept the terms and conditions.
You will also need to have already set up a Google
account on your device (if you bypassed this when
you fi rst turned on the device, add a Google account
in the Settings menu).
With Google Play open, tap the magnifying glass
search icon in the top right corner and begin typing
'AVG Free'. Tap on the top result - AVG Free antivirus
for Android – and on the next screen choose what
should be the top option: Antivirus Security – FREE.
On the next screen you'll see more details
about the app, including its user rating and some
screenshots. Tap the green Install button, then press
Accept to allow AVG to access certain
features on your device. Once it has
installed the green Install button will
change to Open – tap this.
Before you can begin using AVG
you need to accept its terms and
conditions, so hit Continue on the
fi rst screen. You'll then be prompted
to upgrade to AVG Pro. Don't do this
unless you want to: the antivirus part
of AVG is free and, although the extras may be nice
to have, they aren't necessary.
If this is a new phone or tablet, that's all you really
need to do. By default AVG will scan your device
once a week, although you can change this within
the Protection menu.
If this is an older phone or tablet that you're only
just getting around to installing an antivirus on, hit
Scan Now. As you can see in our screenshot, AVG
found two 'threats'. You don't need to blindly accept
these warnings; just use your common sense. If
it keeps fl agging up an app or setting you want
to keep, just tick the Ignore box to remove it from
subsequent scans.
To keep AVG running at the best of its ability,
make sure you keep it up to date. Launch Google
Play and click the three horizontal lines icon in the
top left corner, then choose Settings. Under autoupdate
apps choose to either Auto-update apps at
any time or to update apps over Wi-Fi only (if you
have a limited mobile data plan choose the latter).
From time to time you may still fi nd an app update
requests your permission, and this will be because
it wants you to accept its updated access requests.
