How to Protect your Android from Madware with Norton Spot {FREE Android app}

My current Android phone is my first and I am completely addicted to it! I use it for everything from texting my husband all day, to playing games, to promoting my blog on Facebook and Twitter, to occasionally blogging, and taking my shopping pics as well as fun action shots of my boy. I cannot go without it and when it is acting wonky, I might go into the shakes and almost have anxiety attacks. I am constantly downloading and deleting apps and downloading them because I run out of memory. My 4 year old uses my phone for coloring and Angry Birds and sometimes will click a download by accident. It's a wonder I haven't come across madware (mobile adware)!! I recently learned about madware and now that I know, I need to tell you how to combat it with a simple and quick (and FREE!) Android app. 

If you own an Android smartphone, you know by now that there is an app for just about everything you do. If you're like me, you want to download every free app that will make your life easier. I have downloaded shopping apps, store apps, games and sharing apps. Up until this weekend, my boy didn't have any electronic devices to play with unless he borrowed my phone or laptop. I don't give up my laptop easily so he is confined to the phone for play. He loves Angry Birds, but even more so, he loves the free coloring apps that I have found. He is very creative and he could color for hours on it. Protecting my phone while he is playing…there's an app for that! Norton created a free Android App, Norton Spot, available in the Google Play app store, to spot madware before it takes over your Android like a trojan horse. 

In the past nine months Apps that include madware grew by 210%.

What is madware?

• 'Madware, or aggressive mobile adware, uses aggressive techniques to place advertising in your Android device’s photo albums, calendar entries and push messages to your notification bar. Madware can even go so far as to replace your ringtone with an ad.
• The percentage of apps containing madware has exploded. Norton recently analyzed 1.5 million apps and saw a 210 percent increase in the number of apps including madware.

I definitely wanted to check out Norton Spot to see what it was all about and to find out if my phone has been affected. It was a quick download and I was ready to scan my phone.

I was happy to see that only two of my apps are "annoyance" apps. I already knew that my boy's favorite app would show up, but there is not much I can do because I could not imagine getting rid of it. Besides, his Granny gave him a LeapFrog LeapPad for Christmas so he has his own toy now. I was sad to see that the app I am using for our pregnancy efforts was on the list, but I really like it so I think I'll keep it until I find something better. 

Learn more about madware and Norton Spot and let me know what you think (click for a larger image).

What are your favorite Android apps? Are you concerned about Madware?!!

“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Norton. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.”