I recently installed this software on my lg velvet 5g at&t branded unlocked phone, my wireless data carrier (at&t) offers me free virus protection software just for being a customer. One morning I was reading a news article I can't remember on what site I was on (it MIGHT have been yahoo.com) and I saw this article: https://www.komando.com/sponsors/#totalav so since I'm familiar with kim komando while dealing / speaking with her on various microsoft windows subjects. So the article seemed to grab my attention, so since I value kims advice I decided to try out the software. The product I'm currently evaluating is the internet security one, I've been reading various reviews concerning this company & it's software products. In the the past it appears that they had some somewhat shady business practices, but listened to the complaints from their customers and have since greatly improved. I had decided that I was going to cancel my subscription & sent them a message to that effect. In there reply they offered me two different discounts to retain me as a customer, the most recent discount was 80% of as long I decided to keep the product, which turns out to be $ 19.99/year. My mobile data/wireless provider (at&t) already offered me a free security product just for being a customer. I'm still trying to decide whether I want to keep the product or not. Does anyone have any experience with this product ? Thanks, David
Thanks for your response, from everything I've read about them on various site's on the web, it's of the conscense that they actually improved quite a bit. At least a couple of the AV comparative site's rank them very good.
I highly doubt that they have changed their business practices. In any case, I would avoid their software as there are much better alternatives. While I don't know much about Kim Komando, since she is recommending TotalAV, then I wouldn't consider her to be a trustworthy source of advice, even though her website uses the phrase "Tech advice you can trust™."
I looked, and it does have some good reviews, however, its still an unknown AV to a majority here, so in that regard I would stick to a more well known AV such as Bitdefender, Avast etc, in that way you know for sure that you are getting a quality product. As far as Kim's reviews go, there's a good chance she got paid for doing the review, in other words, ignore it.
Unless I'm incorrect, technically you really don't need a anti virus product installed on a android phone. I feel like I probably wouldn't feel comfortable utilizing TotalAV on any of my microsoft windows machines. David
If you only downloads apps from the Play Store, rather than manually installing apk files then you don't really need one.
It is more to that. There are malware apps on Play Store and Apple's App Store. Number is greater on Play Store than App store, but in both kind of stores there are malware apps. I always screen developer/company profile on Play Store before installing app. I screen it less on less important apps and much more on more important like banking apps. Mobile OSes, for average Joe, are much more secure than desktop OSes due to a couple of things. Apps are distributed through Stores which not only vets many malware apps, but also makes easier to screen company manually by end user. Also privilege/access controls are important*. Each app is contained inside sandbox. As such malware can not do that much until you gave them permissions or type in credentials inside an app. On the other hand, for the same reason, security/AV apps can not do that much on mobile OS compared to desktop OSes. On Android AV can enumerate installed apps and see install .apk files though, so it may be helpful for less skilled user who for some reason want to install apps from 3rd party sources. *https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/five-permissions-android-games-do-not-need/36636/ I would add notification service to above blog post
As it turns out I'm so glad that I posted my question on this site now, I've always considered it to be a good source of informative information. This is the software I was using previously before I decided to install the totalav internet security software:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.att.mobilesecurity&hl=en_US&gl=US
Considering the huge amount of apps google end up removing (and plenty they don't) because they are malware, it is not wise to assume the app store is safe. As you can see their own malware protection is the weakest in the test https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/mobile-security-review-2022/ Note: Android AV does not work like desktop AV, so you don't get the same level of protection. Runtime features are limited due to the lack of system privilege, but you can usually allow it extra access such as the ability to manage your device. Bitdefender and Avira are consistently good and you can use them for free. Worth noting that Avira allows you to access the phone from your account when logged into the web portal on another machine. This is handy if you want to check its status remotely, or intend to manage several devices (v. handy for parents). Also worth installing is one of the VirusTotal apps so you can always get multiple opinions on an app you are not sure of.
While doing even more research concerning the totalav internet security software that I purchased, I've discovered that the virus protection is provided by Avira. Since my most recent reply I've sent totalav a message that I do in fact wish to cancel my subscription. Of course to hopefully get their attention that I'm serious about doing so I told them a little fib in stating that I've contacted my bank that funds the credit card I used to pay for my subscription as to what my intentions are. David Quick Update: Last night before going to sleep I followed the instructions on this page: https://my.totalav.com/support/article/34/how-do-i-cancel-my-account . This morning when I checked my email messages I had received from totalav confirming that my subscription had indeed been cancelled. Just to confirm the received from them was accurate I went to the bank site that funds my credit card that was used to pay for my totalav subscription and I saw a pending credit, I'm so glad they were truthful with me. If I ever get the urge to try something like this again I'll make to come to this informative site first.
Late reply, but TotalAV is known to be a scam product owned by a shady company: Q&A - Total AV - Is it a Scam? | MalwareTips Forums Thorfinn66 comments on TotalAV Scam (reddit.com) Total AV: a product closer to a scam than an antivirus? - Logitheque English Anyone can license an AV engine (like Avira's, or Bitdefender, etc) and put out a product. Hell, a ton of Asian and Southeast Asian companies make their living being shell companies that buy a generic AV and tweak the GUI to add their name and logo. The fact is, TotalAV's owners produce the same malware they're trying to "fight".
Hello All, First of all, as I DO value this site and the user's and their comment's about questions that get asked I decided to un-install the product in question and have obtained a full refund. David
Have you got an evidence to support your claim? While it certainly is published by a shady company, they make money from selling their antiviruses and don't need to do anything other than that to make money. Perhaps you have read about it somewhere. But unless the claims were backed with evidence they mean very little.
Any company that delves into shady practices are like the Leopard, never changing their spots! I've not heard anything but bad reviews about TotalAV, and would remove it like, yesterday!
