- Learn how to get rid of the virus infection warning that keeps popping up on your Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
- Learn how to track down apps or files that may serve as the carrier of the malware.
While Google is very strict when it comes to apps submission into Play Store, some developers are still able to insert a few lines of code into their apps which are often used to gather information or trick users into doing something like enter their credit card information among other things. Apps that work this way are considered malwares. That’s the reason why you have to be very careful when installing apps and download only those that are developed by well-known companies or developers.
We have readers who own the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus who’ve been complaining about a pop-up about virus infection. According to them, the warning pops up every now and then and suggests they install an antivirus as their phone is already infected. When you actually hit the Install button on the warning, it would bring you to a link that may automatically initiate the download of a small file and after the download, it would prompt you to install the app and that’s when things get messy as users will be greeted with multiple popups every few minutes.
In this post, I will walk you through in tracking down the app that might be causing all this problem and uninstall it. We need to get rid of the virus infection warning because as long as it shows up, it means there’s an app that triggers it and you’re phone is actually vulnerable. Once these things start showing up, it’s difficult to get rid of them and installing real antivirus won’t do you any good. So, continue reading and see if this post can help you.
Before we move on to our troubleshooting, if you are looking for a solution to a different problem in your Note 8, visit our troubleshooting page as we have already addressed some of the most common issues reported by our readers. Find problems that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you need further assistance, then fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.
Troubleshooting Galaxy Note 8 with virus infection warning
First off! If you found this post because you were trying to find information about the virus infection that keeps popping up on your screen, well, don’t do anything about what that warning is telling you; don’t install any antivirus, don’t follow the link, and don’t tap that Install button. There’s a way to get rid of that warning and to keep your phone safe again. Continue reading the procedures below…
Isolate the problem by knowing if the malware is attached to a pre-installed or third-party app
The virus may be an independent service or is attached to an app but there’s this very effective method in isolating problems that may have something to do with apps. All you need is to boot your phone in Safe mode to temporarily disable all third-party apps. Follow these steps and I will tell you what to do next and why:
- Turn the device off.
- Press and hold the Power key past the screen with the device name.
- When ‘SAMSUNG’ appears on the screen, release the Power key.
- Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
- Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- Release the Volume down key when you see ‘Safe Mode’.
Once your phone is in this mode, continue using it like you always do to wait for the virus infection warning to pop up. If it still does pop up however, then there’s a pre-installed app that’s infected by the malware but if it doesn’t show, then it’s attached to one of the apps you installed.
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Just so you know, Google, Samsung and your service provider are very keen on making sure there’s no malware in your phone before it was given to you so you may have installed an app that carries the malware and infected one or some of the pre-installed apps. It’s difficult to actually find out which app it is so the best thing you can do at this point is a factory reset. Backup all your files and data including your contacts, messages, pictures, videos, music, etc. and then reset your phone.
- Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
- From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
- Tap Backup and restore.
- If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
- If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
- Tap the back button to the Settings menu and tap General Management > Reset > Factory data reset.
- Tap Reset.
- If you have screen lock turned on, enter your credentials.
- Tap Continue.
- Tap Delete all.
After the reset, don’t do restore your files yet except continue using the phone and install your favorite apps one by one and observant enough to know if at some point the warning would show up again. This way, you can immediately tell which app carries the malware.
On the other hand, if the warning doesn’t show up, the best thing to do is find out which app is triggering the warning. You should start from your most recent installations. Once you already have some suspects in mind, uninstall them one by one until the error won’t show up again. This is how you uninstall an app from your phone:
- From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings > Apps.
- Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display preinstalled apps.
- Tap the desired application.
- Tap Uninstall.
- Tap Uninstall again to confirm.
Check files you downloaded online as they might also be the carrier
There are times when you need to download some files from the internet and save into your phone to be used occasionally. If the warning started popping up shortly after doing this, there’s a chance that the malware isn’t attached to one of the apps but the file you downloaded. The easiest way to know this is by deleting the file and continue observing your phone to see if the warning would still show up.
If you’ve already did the reset, hasn’t installed any third-party apps yet but restored your files and then the warning started showing up again, then it’s clear that one of your files or some of them is infected. You need to find which app it is and then delete it or you may make a copy in your computer if you don’t want to lose that file. Android malware and virus may not work with Mac or Windows.
When it comes to addressing virus infection warnings and other malware-related issues, it’s best that you check the apps you recently installed. If those apps were developed by small-time developers that may seem shady, uninstall them immediately. Big companies that develop applications never put tricky ads in their apps; their ads are often placed in an area that are clearly visible to the user but won’t change how their apps work.
I hope that this short post can help you get rid of the virus infection warning in your Galaxy Note 8.
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