How to remove virus and pop-ups on Galaxy S7 Edge

Is your Galaxy S7 Edge showing ad pop-ups all the time? Has it become significantly slow after installing an app? Do you think that your device has a virus? If you are not sure for the answers to these questions, continue below to know what to do.

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Signs of virus infection

There are a number of things to watch out for if you suspect that you device may have a virus or malware. Below are some of them:

  • popup ads won’t go away
  • a message or prompt to install an app keeps showing up
  • homepage of web browser app keeps changing, or the default search engine is changed without your knowledge
  • presence of apps you don’t recognize
  • terrible lag or slow performance
  • random screen unresponsive issue
  • alerts about virus or malware infection and asking you to scan your device

How to remove virus and pop-ups on Galaxy S7 Edge

Below are the steps that you must do if your Galaxy S7 Edge shows indication or signs of virus or malware.

Clean the phone with factory reset. If your Galaxy S7 has become unresponsive, too sluggish, slow, or just simply unusable, you should consider wiping it with factory reset. Doing so will erase all personal data, apps, and other items you’ve added. This also is an effective way to get rid of viruses, malware, or app that causes the pop-ups.

On your Galaxy S7 Edge, there are two ways to factory reset. One is by going under Settings, and the other is by going to Recovery Mode. We’ll walk you through both.

How to factory reset on Galaxy S7 Edge via Settings:

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Find and tap Settings.
  3. Touch Backup and reset.
  4. Tap Factory data reset.
  5. Touch Reset device.
  6. If you have screen lock feature turned on, enter your password or PIN.
  7. Touch Continue.
  8. Tap Delete all to confirm your action.

How to factory reset on Galaxy S7 Edge via Recovery Mode:

  1. Create a backup of your data.
  2. Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
  3. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  4. When the green Android logo shows up, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  5. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Use Safe Mode to identify bad app. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of factory reset, an alternative to get rid of pop-ups or malware on your device is by identifying the app causing it. Android malware are usually spread by bad apps. Apps that spread adware are prevalent nowadays. Apps of these apps usually want to track your browsing habits and steal data and other information. They can also allow more bad apps to be installed without your knowledge. To check if your phone is infected by such apps, boot the phone to safe mode.

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Power key.
  3. As soon as you can see the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE’ on the screen, release the Power key and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
  4. Continue holding the Volume Down button until the device finishes rebooting.
  5. You may release it when you can see ‘Safe mode’ in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Once your device has booted to safe mode, check to see if pop-ups or other signs of malware are still present. If the phone appears to work normally, try to restart it to go back to normal mode. If pop-ups return, boot back to safe mode again. Then, you can start identifying which of your app is causing the problem. Here’s how:

  1. Boot to safe mode.
  2. Check for signs of malware or if pop-ups return.
  3. If the phone is still infected, start uninstalling an app. You want to do this one at a time.We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
  4. After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
  5. If your Galaxy S7 edge still has pop-ups or virus, repeat steps 1-4.

Use Play Protect. To minimize the chances of bad apps in your system, make sure that you enable Play Protect. This is a security feature in your Google Play Store app that scans your device for unwanted or bad apps or other security threats. Here’s how to turn Play Protect on:

  1. Open your Android device’s Google Play Store app.
  2. Tap Menu icon (three horizontal lines).
  3. Tap Play Protect.
  4. Turn on Scan device for security threats.

Use an antivirus app. Once you’ve cleaned the phone after a factory reset or after identifying the culprit in safe mode, be sure not to install similar malicious apps again. Don’t forget that viruses are usually spread by apps so there’s a chance that the phone may get infected again if you’re not careful with what to add. To help in keeping the system free of potential malware, try to use a security app or antivirus. There are many good and free antivirus apps in the Play Store.Antivirus apps can be free or not so it’s up to you to decide which one to get. Be sure to use only known or official security app. Some bad apps may be disguised as an antivirus app so be careful with your choice.

Also, make sure that you only have one antivirus app installed. Having more than one can cause severe performance problems. Pick one and stick with it.

Turn off app permission (on Google Chrome for Android). If you keep getting popup ads that won’t go away when using a browser like Chrome, you can stop the notifications from a website. Here are the steps to do that:

  1. Open the Chrome app.
  2. Go to a webpage.
  3. To the right of the address bar, tap More icon (three dots).
  4. Tap Information icon (circle with an i).
  5. Tap Site settings.
  6. Under “Permissions,” tap Notifications.
  7. If you don’t see “Permissions” or “Notifications,” the site doesn’t have notifications turned on.
  8. Turn the setting off.

How to avoid viruses and malware on Galaxy S7 Edge

Preventing viruses on a device requires effort from a user. We like to keep repeating this but you are actually the first line of defense of your phone. Antivirus apps and other Android security features are not 100% foolproof. There’s a constant cat-and-mouse battle between good and bad guys. Once a bad guy figures out a workaround, they’ll then develop another way to allow their bad products to sneak in to a device. And you play a big role in that. You must ensure that you make it difficult for viruses to infect your phone at all times. That requires discipline when picking apps. Below are the concrete things that you can start practicing to avoid malware:

  • Always do due diligence when installing an app. You want to check the reviews from other users or browse the internet for feedback for the app if you’re not sure whether it’s safe or not.
  • Stick with official apps.
  • Don’t click on links that shows you how to install an app. Use Play Store to install apps only.
  • Avoid visiting known booby-trapped websites. Porn sites are notorious sources of viruses but so are innocent-looking ones.
  • Avoid clever popups that warn you that your device is infected or has a virus. Majority of the time, popups of such types will run a code after you tap or click on it. Your phone will eventually be forced to download apps or other unwanted software.
  • Minimize apps as much as possible. Truth be told, there’s no “free” app at all. Developing any app is expensive so developers will try to moneytize their products one way or another. One common way for bad developers to profit from their apps is by infecting a device so it constantly displays ads.

 


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