Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Hands-On With Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware App For Android

Anti-malware applications have long held a place of importance on PCs. Recently, however, mobile operating systems have also seen increased popularity of such apps, mostly because Android has become an even bigger target for a multitude of threats trying to steal sensitive information present within smartphones and tablets. Quite a few big names have already jumped onto the mobile security bandwagon, and the latest to join the fray is Malwarebytes – a well-regarded PC security provider – that recently released Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Android, it’s first mobile security solution.

The app comes packaged with a bevy of security features to protect you from possible threats. Its main interface offers access to its three core features with ‘Scan Now’, ‘App Manager’ and ‘Privacy Manager’. The scan feature tests all the files and apps that are potentially malicious in nature and may cause damage to your device. The scan test itself does not take longer than a couple of minutes to complete and analyzes every nook and cranny of the system.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Scanning
The App Manager, on the other hand, is pretty much self explanatory. It’s basically a reorganized list of all running processes on your Android device that lets you monitor how many resources an app may be taking up, and kill unneeded ones. You can swipe to switch between Running, Installed and Whitelist sections of the Application Manager. The Whitelist section allows you to select apps that you believe are safe and exclude them from the scan test.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware No Results Malwarebytes Anti-Malware App Manager Malwarebytes Anti-Malware App Info
The app has a built-in ‘Privacy Manager’ as well, which displays the permissions for each installed app. It houses a Security Audit module that gives you recommendations on how to resolve your phone’s security issues. So for instance, if you want to identify apps that can access text messages, control hardware or track your location, this is where you need to be. It also suggests which security features should be enabled, among other things. Moreover, tapping on any of the recommendations opens the native Android configuration page for modification.
Security Audit Security Audit
Even with all these awesome features, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Android is, surprisingly, available free of charge and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store via the link provided below. Happy malware-hunting!
Install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from Play Store
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