What is the best anti-virus app?

[rcyphermd]

Norton, avast, lookout, or others, and why? Thanks for your advice!

 

[Crashdamage]

Antivirus is not needed.

 

[pardeepgautam]

Really AV not required

 

[PrinceCorwin]

I agree that so far, AV is not really a necessity but about once every 2 months or so, I download avast (free) from play store, install, scan apps and sd card, then uninstall. So Far, it has never turned up anything. I just do it to be safe. Constant, real time AV Protection is just not needed at this time.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

I've been using Avast (partly for its separate anti-theft module) but there is some debate over the usefulness of antivirus. If you want to learn about it, I'd recommend that you check out THIS recent thread, including reading the linked articles. After participating in that discussion, I came to the following conclusion (which is posted in the latter part of the thread).

Antivirus apps are:
1) Worthless for anybody on Android 4.2 or greater. Otherwise...
2) Of very little value for people who eat out of the Play Store or Amazon Store or perhaps occasionally side-load an app from a trusted source.
3) Moderately useful for those who download cracked apps, etc.

So for me (category #2 above) I'm probably getting very little value but Avast is free and it doesn't seem to bog down the performance of my phone so I'll probably keep using it unless I run out of storage space or it causes problems.

 

[gtbarry]

"What is the best anti-virus app?"

Your brain.

Only download from the Play Store or Amazon and proceed with common sense regarding links, etc.

 

[rcyphermd]

The norton product has lots of downloads and their feedback actually has responses from their staff. It looked impressive, but I guess from what everyone above says, not necessary.

 

[gtbarry]

Nothing's perfect. You have to think a little when you download.

This past weekend: a fake BlackBerry Messenger has appeared on Google Play and fooled hundreds of thousands before it was taken down.
Fake BBM Android app fools thousands, Google pulls it | CNET UK


Also....(never download from any place other than the Play Store or Amazon in my opinion):
issues that popup from time to time. Many of these issues appear outside of the Play Store and will only be grabbed by those installing an APK file from a less than reputable site.
Android Defender Platinum app will hold your phone ransom - Android Community

 

[TechnoNinja]

i use gdata since it came in a package when i bought it for my pc. So far, it hasnt detect anything on my pc and thats just how i like it.

 

[jefboyardee]

I’ve had Avast AV and Comodo Firewall on my XP PC for years and I don’t think they’ve caught anything. But I have plenty of hard drive and RAM to run them so I figure I might as well keep them.

But on a droid, where data space is at a premium, I take the ‘don’t think they caught anything’ theory and reverse it. In over two years, I’ve never had AV on mine and never needed it, just paid attention.