Clean Master tells me that my device is performing poorly several times a day, anything I can do? (Discussion about the utility of RAM)

As far as I understood anti virus programs on Android devices are useless. Every Application on a Android device runs in its very own Sandbox. So one application can not access the enviroment of another application (except by using defined and controlled channels like “share File” etc.). That’s why a virus scanner can not “scann” another application like it does at the PC, they simply can’t get into the sandbox of the application. So the only thing Android Scanners do is holding a List of “known bad Apps” and give you a warning while installing one of them. They can’t warn you if you install a manipulated (infected) Version of a good App, because they can’t see it.

So in my opinion installing an anti virus Application on Android devices is just a waste of your phones resources.

Thinking about security on Android should start with understanding the App Permissions and don’t install Apps that require permission they do not really need for there functionality. If you Install an App be sure that you trust the source where it comes from and never give an App root access it you are not absolutely sure that it is needed.

regards,
Shiny

@Shiny: Basically you’re 100 % right. At least I believe you are, out of my limitied knowledge of Android’s specific structure.
But Android resembles Linux, and I’ve been running Linux for a few years. Here, too, the common opinion is that AV is pointless. You can’t infect a Linux system due to its split in a (password-protected) root and a user partition (unless you’re one of the braves that run your system as root permanently). It would be extremely difficult (more or less impossible) to create a virus that could infect your root partition and brick your system.
BUT:
a virus infecting your user (home) partition is another thing. Damage will be limited (to destroying/corrupting your personal data files), but that could be annoying enough.
And of course you can involuntarily spread malware when forwarding infected e-mails or attachments, even if your own device is immune.
So the usefulness of AV for Android might be limited, but reducing even a very small risk might not be a bad idea.
As for wasting resources, I haven’t experienced noticeable loss of functionality due to my AV app. Not even on my lousy old HTC running Android 1.6. But of course that depends on how you use it.

Hello @kgha,

you are right, a relay secure system doesn’t exist and of cause there always will be holes and bugs in a system. So it can always be attacked successfully.

But most “Anti Virus Systems” I have seen for Android won’t help in these cases. When I take a look at Alvast Mobile Security & Antivirus don’t see a program witch is comparable with Alvast for PCs. It seems to scan the SD card but it can not scan the App itself. Most of the Features are “anti theft” Features. They can be Very useful (if you trust Alvast enough to give them control of your phone) but it is not a Anti Virus Tool its more something like Ceberus or Googles “My devices”.

So I would like to mitigate my statement a little. These Anti Virus tools can be useful, but they won’t proect you like the PC tools do. And everybody who uses them should aware of this.

regards,
Shiny

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