I hope I’m putting this at the right place. Apologies in advance if I did not.
This happened on my Fairphone 3+, running on the latest version of the /e/OS (4.1.1)
I recently gave myself a scare by getting what strongly looked like a malware while doing some search in my browser (I’m using Qwant and I believe the app was up to date). I admit I panicked a bit, deleted browser history as soon as I could and also did a factory reset of my phone. But I have also been told that factory reset do not necessarily get rid of all malware, depending of where it’s written itself. So here are my questions :
- How do I make sure that there is no malware anymore ? I’m particularly scared about putting some of my sensitive apps (banking and others) back on the phone and what might happen IF that thing is still there
- And then, how do I avoid such a thing happen again? In other words, how to make my browser search more secure? (I’m usually careful I have no idea what happened here). I know there are antivirus and the such but I also know that lots of people on here don’t like using them because of privacy concerns, but what else can be done that makes it safer without using AV?
I have very basic knowledge of anything IT so forgive me if my questions sound stupid.
Sorry for responding with the answer you exactly did not ask for
I wonder to start with where did the certainty come from that you had any malware on your device?
Then, lucky for you that you could afford the factory re-set, I wouldn’t. Hence, personally I use Avast (free) on my phones. It is a compromise as it has trackers but AP and my Proton VPN stop them O.K. I switched off any reporting in it, I don’t let it scan on regular basis automatically but run it myself. I keep it on with live protection but switched off some additional features it offered that I did not like. I must admit the latest Avast One tries hard to be more annoying than older Avast but after switching off ‘critical notifications’ giving some false alerts I am fine with it as it gives me some peace of mind.
That’s my take on it. There are other more or less up to date free apps both AV or just focused on malware only.
Plenty of users here will say if you are careful AV are waste of time, I had a small discussion in a different topic
You had a scare, think about it, at the end of the day it is your choice. Good luck
Thank you for your reply !
I wasn’t 100% sure it was a malware but as I said, I panicked. I thought it was because I was using the browser, clicked on a search result and suddenly my screen started glitching the way it does, in my experience, only with malwares (at least on a laptop) and then started loading something unwanted
Taking note of what you said about Avast but I’malso interested in the alternatives to AV people who don’t want any use
