How to eliminate viruses on an Android mobile

No operating system today is without security concerns. The reality is that, to a greater or lesser extent, all have vulnerabilities that viruses and other malicious programs try to exploit. If you have noticed that the performance of your mobile has suddenly worsened or that it performs some strange automatic actions, it may have been infected with some kind of malicious software. In this article, we give you some solutions that can help you solve this problem.

Remove viruses on Android with Avast Mobile Security

Avast is a well-known antivirus which owes its popularity mainly to its free version for Windows. Now, you can also use its different tools on your Android phone. The first thing to do is download and install Avast Mobile Security. You can do it using the link you have below.

to download

Once installed, open Avast. As soon as it starts up, it will allow you to scan your phone to locate security threats. Tap on Scan now to start the process.

Start the Avast scan

Wait for the Avast scan to finish. During this process, both the applications that are already installed and the files that you have saved in the terminal’s memory are analyzed.

Avast scan progress

If the screen remains green, it means that your device is clean. In contrast, the red screen indicates that security issues have been found. In our case, an APK classified as malware has been detected. To resolve the issue, click on Resolve.

Security threat detected

When you have fixed all the problems in the list, the screen will turn green.

Threat removed

In our case, Avast automatically deleted the APK from our terminal’s storage. If you want to receive alerts of new threats, activate the option Automatic scanning.

Enable auto scan

Use the Avast scan for free as many times as you want. If you want advanced security features, you can buy the full version of the application.

Other methods to remove a virus on Android

If Avast has not been able to detect any malicious programs on your device and Google Play Protect seems to have missed a threat, now is the time to take more drastic measures. First of all, we advise you to try to remember when your device started to behave strangely. So, try to list all the apps you installed since then. Most likely one of them is a virus or a malicious program. In most cases, the problem is solved by uninstalling said application.

In the event that you have deleted any suspicious software and your device continues to have problems, it is best to reset it completely. You can do this by accessing the phone settings and opening section System.

Open system settings

Then click on Reset options.

Reset a device

To start wiping the device, tap Erase all data (factory reset).

Factory reset

By doing this, all data and applications will be removed from the device. Therefore, it is important that you make a full backup of all your data. If everything has gone well, when you configure your terminal again, the problems will have disappeared completely.

How to activate Google Play Protect to prevent security attacks

In addition to using Avast, deleting suspicious software or ultimately resetting the device to factory settings, you can activate the security tool that Google has integrated into Android, Google Play Protect. This is responsible for preventing attacks by preventing the installation of malicious applications on the device. To check if it is activated correctly, open the Google Play Store. Then, access the main menu by clicking on the three horizontal lines located in the upper left corner.

Open Google Play main menu

Choose the option Play Protect.

Open Play Protect

If you see a green shield on your screen, Play Protect is activated. Use the button Scan to initiate a manual scan of your applications.

Play Protect is on

If, on the other hand, you see a red shield, Play Protect is disabled. To activate it, click on the gear that you have in the upper right corner.

Play Protect is disabled

Next, activate the two options that you will see in the list.

Activate Play Protect on Android

Once this is done, Google Play Protect will be activated on your device and will scan it regularly in order to neutralize possible security threats.