Virus checker suggestions

You should be very wary of things that tell you you have been infected when you visit websites: these messages are usually ads trying to push dodgy "anti-virus" apps by telling you that you have an infection. Sometimes the apps they are pushing are actually malware themselves!

Cleaning up some caches and freeing a little space is more likely to be useful than any "antivirus" app. If you feel the need to reassure yourself then you could try installing malwarebytes and scanning the phone, but the truth is that most of the things that people read as evidence that they are infected are actually nothing of the sort - I think Windows and the AV industry have trained people to think of malware as the first explanation for any behaviour they don't understand, whereas in reality it's one of the less likely (unless you go downloading apps from ads, in which case all bets are off ).

For the record, there are no "viruses" for Android. A virus is type of malware that can spread between different devices by itself. Most Android malware is of the "trojan" variety, i.e. malicious apps pretending to be something else, which the user has to install themselves. Being careful about what apps you install and where from is therefore a more effective form of security than any "antivirus" software.

 

yep no need for anti-virus apps. never used and most likely never will. i never had any of my device infected with malware or adware....and i have been dealing with android since its inception. like @Hadron suggested just be diligent with what you install....and make sure you read about the permissions the app will have before you install it.

if you are going to use an app, use this one:
Malwarebytes Security:Virus Cleaner, Anti-Malware

but again it is not really needed as long as you watch what you download and install.

 

Was it saying something like "YOUR PHONE IS INFECTED WITH 17 VIRUSES!!, INSTALL THIS APP TO CLEAN IT."?

If so, that's a a scareware ad, and it's pure BS. Suggest you use an ad-blocker. You don't need a virus cleaner.

As for the phone been slow, have you tried restarting it?

 

It depends on the type of app. So the real question is "is that permission needed for what the app does?". Unfortunately it takes a little knowledge to judge this in some cases. For example, a flashlight app that wants access to your contacts, messages, files, permission to install apps, is clearly up to no good (or coded by an idiot who doesn't know how to set permissions - either way you should not install it). However it might need camera permission in order to operate the flash on many devices, so a flashlight asking for camera access is not suspicious.

Some permissions you can control after the fact, e.g. an app may request location permission but if you don't think it needs it then you can deny that permission after installation. But there are only some permissions you can control this way, and not all of the risky ones are covered.

Unfortunately security apps need some pretty extensive permissions in order to do their job, so you can't easily spot a dodgy one by looking at the permissions. For that sort of thing you rely on the reputation of the company behind it (a rogue security app could own your device, which is another reason you should never install one based on a pop-up ad!).

 

I would avoid that news site, if such ads are popping up while there.

Also, if your device acts slow on certain sites, I would avoid any like that.

The site itself may be causing the sluggishness.