How to fix malware or spyware issue on a Galaxy S7, other issues

Hello Android fans! This article touches on the often misunderstood issue on how to deal with malware infection. It’s not a definitive and comprehensive read for more advanced users but more of a general guideline for average Android users. We hope that it’ll be helpful for those asking what to do if they think their S7 is infected by a virus and how to prevent it from coming back. We also discuss other S7 issues in this material so read on.

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If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:

Problem 1: Galaxy S7 edge screen keeps flickering light green

The bottom part of my Samsung S7 edge screen starting flickering with light green lines then by that night the whole screen was flickering light green. I could barely see the apps but could see enough to select them and the whole phone still works perfectly but can’t see anything. At first this only happened when phone was unlocked. Now when the phone is locked the locked screen is also green but doesn’t flicker. I’m hoping this can be solved as phone still works I just can’t see anything. — Jennie

Solution: Hi Jennie. A display issue such as this is almost always caused by bad hardware. Was your phone dropped or exposed to water before noticing this problem? If any of these two happened, stop looking for a software solution. If you want to get to the bottom of the problem, you should let a professional check at the phone so you’ll know if a screen replacement is necessary, or if it’s a motherboard issue.

If the device was never dropped nor got wet (we know it has water resistance protection), you should try to boot it to Recovery mode and do a factory reset. Make sure to create a backup of your files first before doing this step. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  8. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Factory reset returns all software settings back to their defaults. This means that the software environment of your phone should be like when you unboxed the phone for the first time. Everything should work fine including the screen. If the screen remains green though, that’s a confirmation that you have a broken screen assembly.

Problem 2: Galaxy S7 keeps sending duplicate SMS

My phone is sending multiple text messages whenever I send one with my Samsung Galaxy S7. I was using Facebook Messenger, so I disabled that and began using the native app. Still get multiple messages. I cleared the messenger and native app caches. Still sending multiple messages. Though it appears the first message I send is fine. Everything after that is multiplied.

Also, messages to group chats are not multiplied. I have deleted all of the text message threads on both apps as well. I have restarted the phone. Still having problems. Any ideas? — Matthew

Solution: Hi Matthew. There’s only so much that you can do when it comes to SMS problems. Since you’ve already done everything on your level except a factory reset, we think that the problem is network related. Keep in mind that your phone is not the sole device responsible in sending your SMS. Sending and receiving SMS is a complicated process and passes through a number of devices in your carrier’s network. There’s a chance that the problem may lie on your carrier’s end too so once you’ve performed a factory reset and problem stays, let them know about it.

Problem 3: Galaxy S7 not turning on, not charging by cable

Hello! So my phone started crashing back in April after I updated the system and now it randomly stops working. But when I try to restart it (or if it randomly restarts on its own) I can’t get it to turn back on. When I plug it in, it doesn’t show that it is charging, but when I put it on my wireless charger it lights up like it is charging it.

Also, I’ve tried both the soft reset and rebooting in recovery mode. Nothing happens when I press the volume down and power keys, but when I do volume up with the home and power keys it says “recovery mode….” in blue at the top but nothing else happens and I’ve held those keys for minutes at a time just in case. Any suggestions on getting my phone working again? — Erin

Solution: Hi Erin. So does your phone charges fine if you’re using wireless charger? Can you power it on after charging it wirelessly? If the phone does turn on after a wirelessly charging it, then you should consider changing the USB cable or the charger, or send the phone in for repair for a possible USB charging port problem.

If the phone won’t turn on after charging it wirelessly though, you can try to boot it to other boot modes, namely Download mode and Safe Mode. If the phone remains unresponsive after two boot attempts, contact Samsung or your carrier for more support.

These are the steps on how to boot your S7 to Download Mode and Safe mode:

Boot in Download Mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
  4. Wait until the Download screen appears.
  5. If you can boot the phone in download mode but not in other modes, that means that your only way out may be to flash a stock or custom firmware.
  6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and hold the Power button.
  3. Once the Samsung Galaxy logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  6. The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem 4: Galaxy S7 predictive text keeps showing misspelled words

Ever since the Nougat update, my S7 Predictive Text predicts wrong misspelled words. First, I have my predictive text enabled as well as my Auto Check Spelling yet it insists on making words out of the 1st letter on the keys hit. I remove the “wrong words” from the learned words selection but they will come right back when I start texting again. Any suggestions? Thank you. —  Lisa

Solution: Hi Lisa. There are a number of systems being used in predictive text feature in today’s smartphones but two things are clear — they’re not perfect and they require a user to train them. Training your own predictive text system can take some time and can actually be annoying if you don’t have patience in the initial stages. The more you text or use the keyboard, the better predictive text becomes so you can’t hurry it all. Before you begin retraining your phone’s predictive text, make sure that you reset the settings of your keyboard app. Assuming you’re using Samsung’s own native keyboard app, here’s what you must do:

  1. Open the messaging app.
  2. Try to simulate sending a text message by composing an SMS.
  3. Once the keyboard appears, tap the gear-looking icon.
  4. Scroll down to the bottom and tap Reset settings.

Alternatively, you can also wipe the data of the keyboard app by doing the steps below:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6 or 7.
  3. Once in there, click on an application.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons for the application. Tap Clear Data button.

Again, predictive text needs time in order to be efficient. The more you enter texts, the better it becomes so it’ll only get worse first before it becomes better. Give it time.

For a more in-depth explanation of how predictive text works, follow this link from Lifehacker.

Problem 5: Galaxy S7 “messages has stopped” error when texting

My phone stopped receiving text messages after the last update. I can still send them but whenever a text tries to come through to me, my phone just says “messages has stopped” and I’ve tried restarting my phone and such but it didn’t fix it. Is there anything else I can try before having to resort to a hard reset? — Itsabookclub.cj

Solution: Hi Itsabookclub.cj. Make sure that you wipe the messaging app’s cache and data first. The “messages has stopped” error you’re getting is generic and does not really point to anything specific other than the obvious fact that it’s a messaging app problem. If you don’t know how to wipe an app’s cache and data, refer to the steps we provide to Lisa above. Clearing the messaging app’s data will delete your SMS conversations so be sure to back them up via Smart Switch first if you don’t want to lose them.

If wiping an app’s data won’t help at all, consider using another messaging app like Facebook Messenger or Google Hangouts. If the problem won’t occur when using an alternate messaging app, do a factory reset. Do the same thing if other messaging apps won’t work.

Problem 6: Galaxy S7 edge freezing, totally unresponsive

The Phone S7 Edge was getting hanged previously and the device had to be restarted several times earlier. But this time the Samsung logo just appeared halfway and the blue light is steady and no changes. The screen won’t turn on. There is slight blue and white changes in the LED light but not actually blinking. I have tried all the steps 1 to 4 but unable to restart the device. Please advice at the earliest to restart the mobile. If it’s the factory reset procedure. Kindly advice the steps to do that. — SUBHRANIL

Solution: Hi SUBHRANIL. If the phone has become unresponsive, the first thing that you must try is soft reset. Here’s how to do that:

  1. Press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons until the Maintenance Boot Mode screen appears (approx. 10 seconds).
  2. From the Maintenance Boot Mode screen, select Power down.

If the phone remains dead or frozen, consider doing a factory reset. Here’s how:

  1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  8. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Either this or a soft reset should fix the issue. If, for some reason, the phone continues in its present trajectory, contact Samsung for repair or replacement.

Problem 7: How to recover contacts if Galaxy S7 won’t turn on?

Hi. My phone keeps freezing and then turning itself off. Sometimes, it’s totally blank or black and sometimes the furthest left blue light stays lit, going dimmer to lighter. This has previously happened and the forums have helped by pressing certain buttons but the last few times it has happened, this no longer works and it only comes back on once the battery has drained. I fully charged my device this morning but it froze again. my problems is that I want to take it in for repair but need to get it back on to save all my contact etc. before I do this. Any advise please?        — Louise

Solution: Hi Louise. If the phone won’t turn back on at all, even after using different known working chargers, cables, and wireless chargers, then you’re out of luck. The only way to access contents in your phone’s storage device is to have a working screen, and of course a working system.

Problem 8: How to fix malware or spyware issue on a Galaxy S7, infected with a spyware, malware

I need to know the names to look for, with the stealth spy apps. If you could put together a small list of the most popular so I can find them and where they hide at in my Galaxy S7 Active and A GOOD SOFTWARE TO TRACK AND REMOVE THEM PLEASE AND THANK YOU. Also, is there a way to find out who keeps doing this to me? — Alaskanchevyman

Solution: Hi Alaskanchevyman. There’s no such thing as an app to track other spy apps. Once a spyware has infiltrated your phone, it must be very difficult to find even for a trained professional. If you suspect that your phone has been compromised, do a factory reset first. Doing so will delete all apps you’ve installed, including the malware and spyware. Better still, you can bring the phone to Samsung or to your carrier so they can manually flash it, meaning, install a new version of Android in it. That will surely remove anything malicious in the device.

Of course, prevention is, as they say, always better than the cure itself. So, once you’ve cleaned up the phone, make sure that you don’t introduce malware or spyware into the system again. Most of today’s malicious software gain access to a device via the following:

  • a user visits a bootytrapped website
  • a user clicks on a link within an email or page in a website that will then run codes in the background in order to allow more malware to enter
  • a user installs untrustworthy apps from dubious developers

Have you noticed how each item starts with “a user”? That’s to drive the point that it’s usually the user himself or herself that causes a virus or malware to infect the device in the first place. There’s no amount of security software or app you can install to prevent viruses from infecting your phone if you’re not careful. You should be the first line of defense against malware. Explaining all the details on how avoid falling into a trap set by bad hackers is beyond this article so we recommend that you visit other websites that provide more in-depth tips on how to prevent virus infection in an Android phone. As a general reminder though, in today’s digital world, it’s better to be suspicious at all times when it comes to computing (or using your smartphone). Be very careful when installing apps. A lot of people install apps without checking if it’s from a reputable developer, and if other users are reviewing them as safe. Always check reviews from other users before installing your apps to avoid re-infecting your phone. Stick to official apps as they tend to be safe and well-built. We know there are hundreds of thousands of apps out there and not all of them can be trusted so always invest time in ensuring that an app you install is good.

Some apps are initially okay but later on, a developer may update it to introduce malicious activities such as spying and collecting information about your device. Other malicious apps can disguise as a legit looking one like a game but would later on allow other apps to be installed without your knowledge. And unfortunately, even good antivirus apps can’t screen everything so never put your trust fully in your antivirus app.

Problem 9: Galaxy S7 keyboard won’t appear

Hi. My Samsung S7 was working fine this morning. I have been getting warnings to download new software update but I have moved house and haven’t had access to wifi to do this. I have Powered Off a number of times and don’t force re-start. The Samsung logo appears and the phone starts. It then asks for my phone pin but the key pad doesn’t appear so I can’t type in the PIN. — Tmsalmons

Solution: Hi Tmsalmons. Try booting the phone to Recovery mode and see if you can make the virtual keyboard appear after wiping the cache partition. If that won’t work, you may have to do the more drastic factory wipe or reset.

To boot to recovery, follow these steps:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Problem 10: Galaxy S7 can’t open video files from Nikon camera

When using the Nikon WMU, it seems my videos transfer. However they do not play. All there is a blank gray screen with a circle with an i in the middle. I have a screen shot of what comes up when I hit edit. It is a mov file. The camera used is a Nikon d3300. Thank you in advance for your prompt response. — James

Solution: Hi James. We’re assuming you want to say that your S7 phone is unable to play videos transferred from your Nikon camera. If that’s the case, it’s possible that the app you’re using is not compatible with your S7. If it’s not a compatibility issue, then the file format that you’re trying to view may not be supported. You must contact the developer of the app (WirelessMobileUtility) that’s having a problem reading the video files.

 


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