Malware is yet to be a huge problem for Android, but it's always better to be safe than sorry
Generally speaking you can get away without installing antivirus on an Android phone or tablet, but there are malicious apps to be found outside the Google Play store, and installing them is as simple as unticking a box in the Settings that lets you download apps from unknown sources. Plus, Android is now the most popular mobile OS in the world and, as we saw with Windows, that means it will become increasingly attractive to wrongdoers. Since AVG antivirus is available for free, you might as well play it safe and install it.
Launch the Google Play store on your phone or tablet. You probably have an icon for this on your home screen; if not, open the apps menu and look for what looks like a white shopping bag with a triangular icon on top.
If this is the first time you've opened Google Play you will be prompted to accept the terms and conditions. You will also need to have already set up a Google account on your device (if you bypassed this when you fi rst turned on the device, add a Google account in the Settings menu).
With Google Play open, tap the magnifying glass search icon in the top right corner and begin typing 'AVG Free'. Tap on the top result - AVG Free antivirus for Android – and on the next screen choose what should be the top option: Antivirus Security – FREE. On the next screen you'll see more details about the app, including its user rating and some screenshots. Tap the green Install button, then press Accept to allow AVG to access certain features on your device. Once it has installed the green Install button will change to Open – tap this.
Before you can begin using AVG you need to accept its terms and conditions, so hit Continue on the first screen. You'll then be prompted to upgrade to AVG Pro. Don't do this unless you want to: the antivirus part of AVG is free and, although the extras may be nice to have, they aren't necessary.
If this is a new phone or tablet, that's all you really need to do. By default AVG will scan your device once a week, although you can change this within the Protection menu.
If this is an older phone or tablet that you're only just getting around to installing an antivirus on, hit Scan Now. As you can see in our screenshot, AVG found two 'threats'. You don't need to blindly accept these warnings; just use your common sense. If it keeps flagging up an app or setting you want to keep, just tick the Ignore box to remove it from subsequent scans.
To keep AVG running at the best of its ability, make sure you keep it up to date. Launch Google Play and click the three horizontal lines icon in the top left corner, then choose Settings. Under autoupdate apps choose to either Auto-update apps at any time or to update apps over Wi-Fi only (if you have a limited mobile data plan choose the latter). From time to time you may still find an app update requests your permission, and this will be because it wants you to accept its updated access requests.
