Google software guru says Android, RIM and iOS anti-virus app makers are “charlatans and scammers”
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82 Comments
3. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 08:55 5
been saying that all along. :) 0.00005% is not a big issue. it just makes for perty headlines and article hits.
5. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:17 4
chalk one up for effective come backs. :) i giggled. Sorry ilia. :)
6. ilia1986 posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:19 4
Ha isn't that funny? My post was moderated because apparently it violates the following criteria:
"Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Trolling - see a description
Flame wars
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned"
That causes me to question - how come taco50 is still here? How come every single post of his isn't moderated? Because it damn well should be, according to the above list.
7. iamcc posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:28 3
I don't understand either.
Oh well, i'm over it to be honest. I just wont reply to him anymore, as remix mentioned in another thread if we just ignore him entirely he will probably go away.
8. ilia1986 posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:35 4
An excellent suggestion. I think that he was multi-touched by a pedophile when he was young. That might explain his behavior.
11. iamcc posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:51 3
Maybe he played football at Penn State.
ZING
12. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:52 3
gawd.. too soon.. too soon!!
9. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:39 4
you got taco trolling every thread looking to start fights.. especially with me. you got ardent going out of his way to be personally insulting when no one is slinging insults at him all without moderation.... but you got moderated for saying iDiot as a general term.
Yup.. seems fair. :(
14. iamcc posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:55 5
When taco mentioned in another thread that he brings "hits" to the site it got me thinking...
Remember those AIM bots back in the day? You could say "do you want to go to dinner" and it would give you some witty remark back?
Maybe PhoneArena has a tacobot. Any article with the word "Android" or "iPhone" in it the bot just picks random comments and then starts typing gibberish.
Honestly, it's the best explanation I can come up with for tacos comments...
81. BattleBrat posted on 20 Nov 2011, 21:00 0
ROFL!!!
Android malware did have me scared, but I stick to several major Apps that are also available on iOS and I stick to major games, so I follow security suggestions and generally I've been great
2. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 08:54 9
chalk yet another one up for me. thanks buddy. :)
i tell people not to install that junk all the time. the only thing your likey to get, is a resource hog. even Android's "huge" issue only equated to 0.00005% of users at the last article, and that was mostly users in asia.
29. LewsTherin006 posted on 18 Nov 2011, 12:29 2
hey i work for tmobile too! what store do you work at? i work at 6850.
25. BigRed83 posted on 18 Nov 2011, 11:20 8
I told my customers the same thing; if you play outside of the sandbox, you may get hurt. Yes, I thought of them as children, it was easier that way.
32. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 12:38 0
Where are you getting this percentage from?
44. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 13:39 5
the last article that was on PA talking about that "huge rise" in pirated apps. It gave a number for the amount of users that had downloaded those evil apps. That number divided by the current android sales at the time = 0.00005%. I did the math clearly on the article and have been touting that bit of proof ever since, every time one of u uses that same stupid "android malware" line.
And since android sells about 16.5 million sets a month (and that was like 4-6 months ago), that number is probably a lot smaller now.
45. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 13:44 0
So you're now using the sniggly strategy of cooking up your own numbers?
50. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 14:14 9
its amazing, i even spelled out how i came to that number, and u still cant read.
i used the numbers FROM THE ARTICLE that were plain as day,even for you.. OMG. do you EVER stop acting like a brainless troll? You have got to be smarter than this.. ugh.
60. Jobes posted on 18 Nov 2011, 15:47 1
Trolls don't have brains... only search engines.
10. PimpStrong posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:41 8
16 months with Android and I have no idea what a virus even looks like. Had some crappy apps but no bugs.
13. iamcc posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:53 3
Agreed. I've been with Android since the D1 and the closest thing i've ever had to a virus was a bug on a custom ROM that forced my phone to keep going to Google.com and searching for "XXXX ROM IS THE BEST ROM EVER"
Turns out it was some script the dev had put in there as a joke for a friend of his or something but forgot to remove it...
15. Sniggly posted on 18 Nov 2011, 09:58 11
This is what I've been saying all along. In fact, I would wager that the anti virus guys are responsible for some of the viruses and malware out there. I understand that viruses and malware suck, and they exist, but they're not the problem they're made out to be. Especially not by iFanboys.
55. Stuntman posted on 18 Nov 2011, 14:31 0
I have checked out some anti-virus software on the Android Market. Some of the users comments about one of these apps say that the app itself is malware.
16. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Nov 2011, 10:05 3
The biggest exposure for smartphones is more on the order of Trojans that grab whatever sensitive data is either stored or captured (key logging, anyone?). Hopefully, apps like Lookout that supposedly log malware and related sites will fill the gap. But technically, the traditional risk of the handset being bricked by a virus is less due to the sand boxing. I wonder if Apple will sue over sand boxing? If they do sue, I imagine Larry might have something to say about that seeing as Oracle now owns Sun and the Java patents.
17. networkdood posted on 18 Nov 2011, 10:10 7
APPLE must have started the rumors...lol.
Yep, I have had trojans on my old XP PC , never had an issue on my ANDROID phone...come to think of it, I never even had a virus, trojan, or any malware on my TILT I, either.
The biggest scammers are online - doublemyspeed.com - and ones like that - they install software that creates a backdoor on your PC that does let the 'trash' in.
18. corporateJP posted on 18 Nov 2011, 10:28 2
He's got a great point, but nothing (nothing) is absolutely safe.
I will tell you AVG on one of my Androids caught an email and quaranteened it because of the way it was worded. It was from a friend, explaining a potential Trojan threat involving our workplace, and it used the names and files it was hunting for. Apparently, the words together alone set off the alarm for AVG. I was rather impressed by that.
19. faisal8708 posted on 18 Nov 2011, 10:30 1
Yea the problem is not so big thats why he had to refute it hahahaha
20. iamcc posted on 18 Nov 2011, 10:36 3
Man you are smart. Why didn't I think of that... if he's saying it isn't true IT MUST BE TRUE.
24. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 11:12 4
who knows, maybe he reads phone boards and got tired of iTrolls constantly spreading false information, and therefore wanted to set the record straight.
if it was a top apple programmer saying the same thing about apple would you doubt it? if not, then your just trolling.
30. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 12:31 0
Umm it's not itrolls. There's a report about malware on android every other week it seems.
34. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 12:40 0
Remix Faisal posted an article from November 15th showing an explosion in malware on android.
46. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 13:45 4
yea, 400% explosion, i saw it.
it doesnt change the actual number much. even if android didnt have a single sale between the previous article and this one 0.00005% X 400% = 0.0002% of android users have been affected by it.
Now when you factor in that 16.5million activations a month (550k activations a day X 30 days), it probably drops it right back down to that original 0.00005% number.. maybe a lil higher, maybe a little lower
point is 400% makes for great headlines but not an honest look at the whole picture.
The whole picture? Android is secure. And the bulk of that malware exists in asian languages like chinese and it mostly affects asian countries.
48. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 14:05 0
You don't even understand why you're math is totally wrong do you?
51. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 14:16 5
instead of trolling, tell us why, oh professor taco.
54. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 14:30 0
Have you considered that not every single android activated is still active today?
57. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 15:03 2
so, in the last couple of months you think there were more android phones deacted than activated? you think the net total of android phones is LESS than it was before? That would mean that MORE THAN 16.5 million phones are deactivated every month for that to even hold water.... even though Android is up 100 million sales for the year so far.
ARE YOU SERIOUS???!??!?!?!?!
no.. you cant possibly be that brainless... can you?
59. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 15:07 1
Your math counts only activations and doesn't count deactivations. According to you every new esn is an activation. That means all warranty and insurance replacements are activations.
Then there's all the people switching from one android to another or going with the iPhone.
Your math is totally flawed and you have no basis to quote a specific percentage.
A reasonable comment would be I believe affected users are a small amount.
61. iamcc posted on 18 Nov 2011, 15:50 3
Are you really educating remix on how to make a "reasonable comment"?
The post you just made (which i'm replying to) is the closest thing to a "reasonable comment" i've ever seen you write.
Regardless, i'm giving you thumbs up.
62. Jobes posted on 18 Nov 2011, 15:52 2
Even if you put in deactivations the number is stilllllllllllll far far far... far.. far... faaaar far... btw far. Below 1 percent.. just saying :)
67. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 16:35 4
taco,
an ESN can only be activated once
Warranty phones are USED phones, their ESNs have already been activated, and thus DO NOT COUNT again.
What do you think they do with the phone when someone returns it under the trial period? lol.
if someone buys an iphone4 and then buys an iphone4s down the line, it still counts as a new iphone sold. if someone buys an android and then upgrades down the line, it still counts as a new android sold.
i fail to see where you have a valid point in all of this, other than just trying to be aggravating.
you lack the logic to come up with a decent rebuttal.. good lord.
taco, that is exactly what my original comment was.. lol unless 0.00005% turned into a large number and no one informed me.
A reasonable response to my original arguement would be "since you explained your math, and it was math that was pulled directly from the original article, then it might be true"... not one thing you have said in rebuttal has a basis in reality.
70. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 16:46 0
The valid point is that upgrading from one android to another doesn't increase the user base. Your math is percentage of the user base right? Also in the several years android has been in use a lot of these phones are no longer in use.
You're counting activations but not counting deactivations. Your math is flawed.
That would be like AT&T quarterly reports where they count their suvpbscribers by add only and not considering deactivations.
You pulled this number out your ass as usual.
Why can't you understand that deactivations have to be counted now that I pointed it out?
73. networkdood posted on 18 Nov 2011, 23:50 2
Actually, they report net gain....do you know what the term 'net' means, as opposed to 'gross?'
Yeah, I thought so :-)
22. Owlet posted on 18 Nov 2011, 11:09 3
I've spent awhile with Android, but I never felt that I needed an anti virus app. I can't imagine me having a virus on the cell phone. And I do think that what DiBona said aboutanti virus companies is true.
26. BigRed83 posted on 18 Nov 2011, 11:22 2
The only "viruses" I saw with any regularity was on dumbphones from forwarded text messages, that replicated themselves, then cleaned out and crashed the phone. Never on a smartphone. The only security problem was cloning on old Treos, which was Palm's issue back then.
27. twashington4 posted on 18 Nov 2011, 11:27 2
Yeah, I learned my lesson with crappy apps, but never had a virus. I tried lookout antivirus once, but it does hog up resources from time to time...at least that was my experience. I uninstalled and haven't had any virus issues to speak of at all.
28. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 12:26 0
I agree the virus apps are scams. However android definitely has a malware problem. It's called market place.
31. LewsTherin006 posted on 18 Nov 2011, 12:31 4
yes, because every app in the market (not marketplace, thats winphone7) is a virus. 0_0
33. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 12:39 0
Never said every app, but it's definitely infested with them. That's what happens when there's no approval process.
36. jdcxxx posted on 18 Nov 2011, 13:06 7
Remember the guy who posted an app with malicious software to prove that there are flaws with the ios security.
40. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 13:15 0
Please stay on topic. We're discussing android.
42. iamcc posted on 18 Nov 2011, 13:21 5
taco you crack me up.
47. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 13:46 6
something tells me taco got another warning letter.. lol.
49. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 14:06 0
I'm warning him. I've applied to be a PA moderator.
52. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 14:16 5
bahahahahahahah
you mean you applied to be permanently moderated. lol
53. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Nov 2011, 14:20 2
You're buddy ilia has been moderated on this article for his offensive comments.
I'm staying on topic and using logic and facts which is like krypton to android fanboys.
58. remixfa posted on 18 Nov 2011, 15:05 3
taco, you get moderated at least once on probably 60-70% of all articles you have posted on. And your worried about illia's rare moderation?
get a grip.
64. Jobes posted on 18 Nov 2011, 15:55 2
Krypton is the planet.. gahhh google is your friend taco :)
74. networkdood posted on 18 Nov 2011, 23:52 2
Are you delirious? Months ago, there was warning of SMS being passed around iphones exploiting a security flaw:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/28/hackers-iphone-apple-technology-security-hackers.html
