Here are a Few Steps to Clean up your Android Device

Most Smartphone and Tablet makers single out ‘Android’ as their preferred mobile operating system for its ease of user interface. It’s well known that Android is an open source software stack for a wide range of mobile devices. This fact makes it susceptible to virus and malware. In case, you have reasons to believe your Android Smartphone or Tablet has a virus or other malicious content, here are a few steps to clean up your device.

Reboot Your Smartphone

Your Smartphone needs to be on safe mode to prevent any third-party apps from running including any malware. To enable safe mode, press the power button to get power off option, and then press and hold power off button to restart in safe mode option. This will disable all third-party applications that you have installed. The clean applications will be automatically restored when you reboot.

Device Settings

Once you’ve restarted your device on safe mode, navigate to ‘Settings’ and choose Apps on the Download tab. Go through the list and check for apps installed that might seem suspicious and ideally, shouldn’t be running on your device.

Uninstall Malicious App(s)

Tap on the malicious app and click uninstall. Once you have uninstalled the app, reboot the device and it’s ready to be used and virus-free. In the event of the uninstall button being greyed out, it means the virus has taken over as the Device Administrator itself.

Device Administrator

Navigate your way through to the ‘Device Administrator’. Here, you will get the full list of apps on your device with the administrator status. You just need to uncheck the app you want to remove, and then tap ‘Deactivate’ on the next screen. The infected app is thus uninstalled.

Restart to Normal Mode

After uninstalling any malicious app, take your device off safe mode by restarting it. Now your Smartphone or Tablet is safe without any virus.