Annoying Android adverts - Page 2

techguyone · 07-09-2014, 10:11

Wonder if Osem jnr has been installing games & stuff? that would be a clear way into your problems.

Considering Google Play will have been pre installed on your phone, why would you want or need to get another 'PlayStore' app thinking it's Googles. Additionally when I do a search for 'PlayStore' in Google Play, nothings there (hardly surprising, I wouldn't think Google would want competition for their app store IN their app store...) Neither could I find 'GSearch' or 'GFirewall' on Google Play. As these aren't on the official store, that leads me to this:

Do you have 'Install apps from Unknown Sources' checked in settings? if you don't know what you are doing, that's potentially a really bad idea as any old rubbish can then be installed.

Something else ringing huge alarm bells for me is the fact that you stated that you can't uninstall them, that's a bit WTF. I don't think in 3yrs of Android ownership I've ever not been able to uninstall anything that wasn't already pre installed.

I would be having a chat with anyone else in your family who can and does perhaps use your phone, and secondly I'd be doing a factory reset of your phone, unless you like having your data harvested, phone potentially compromised, anything you do visible, virus infected etc etc etc.

--

I found a GSearch on the alternative app store 'SlideMe' - do you have that installed too incidentally? because that app store isn't terribly well regarded for it's quality control, and some apps that Google refused on their store end up there)

Osem · 07-09-2014, 11:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by techguyone

Wonder if Osem jnr has been installing games & stuff? that would be a clear way into your problems.

Considering Google Play will have been pre installed on your phone, why would you want or need to get another 'PlayStore' app thinking it's Googles. Additionally when I do a search for 'PlayStore' in Google Play, nothings there (hardly surprising, I wouldn't think Google would want competition for their app store IN their app store...) Neither could I find 'GSearch' or 'GFirewall' on Google Play. As these aren't on the official store, that leads me to this:

Do you have 'Install apps from Unknown Sources' checked in settings? if you don't know what you are doing, that's potentially a really bad idea as any old rubbish can then be installed.

Something else ringing huge alarm bells for me is the fact that you stated that you can't uninstall them, that's a bit WTF. I don't think in 3yrs of Android ownership I've ever not been able to uninstall anything that wasn't already pre installed.

I would be having a chat with anyone else in your family who can and does perhaps use your phone, and secondly I'd be doing a factory reset of your phone, unless you like having your data harvested, phone potentially compromised, anything you do visible, virus infected etc etc etc.

--

I found a GSearch on the alternative app store 'SlideMe' - do you have that installed too incidentally? because that app store isn't terribly well regarded for it's quality control, and some apps that Google refused on their store end up there)

Hi and thanks for the reply.

Just to clarify nobody ever uses my phone except me. Osem Jnr has his own as does the wife. The GSearch and GFirewall apps can be uninstalled but reappear a few days later. It looks like the dubious PlayStore app came with the phone and all I can do is disable it (there's no uninstall option) which I have done and it still shows as disabled at the bottom of the apps list.

I'm not into phones in a big way and have hardly installed any apps since I got it months ago. I use it mainly for calls/texts/whatsapp, occasionally maps/ navigation and very occasionally looking at BBC news while I'm sat in the park or whatever. I installed Lookout AV as soon as I got it and have never had any alerts from that. I never access email on it or do any shopping, banking etc. All the apps I have installed came via the pukker GoogleStore.

The 'dodgy' app in question has a file size of only 680kb and only appears in the list of installed apps as 'Play Store' with the usual associated google image. There's no icon for it showing up on any of the app screens. The genuine one is 11.68 mb and appears in the apps list as 'Google Play Store' with the same small image. It also appears on one of the app screens as you'd expect but its name is reduced in size to just 'Play Store'.

I'm only assuming this app is what is responsible for GSearch and GFirewall appearing because someone on another forum had the same problem and it seems very odd that there are 2 stores on my phone, one of which clearly isn't functioning as the real thing.

techguyone · 07-09-2014, 11:18

Yes the 'PlayStore' app seems to be the issue. Was it on the phone when you got it? was it a brand new phone? Is it a recognisable brand, or a Chinese knock off from ebay or similar?

Osem · 07-09-2014, 18:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by techguyone

Yes the 'PlayStore' app seems to be the issue. Was it on the phone when you got it? was it a brand new phone? Is it a recognisable brand, or a Chinese knock off from ebay or similar?

Yes a Chinese copy. Wife has the exact same phone from the same supplier but so such issues. Not sure if the dodgy playstore app was there when I got it as I probably wouldn't have noticed. Thankfully it only seems to be generating these annoying adverts. I've removed the other 2 apps. again and deleted the data/cache of the playstore app. which remains disabled so it'll be interesting to see if/when they reappear.

If they do I'll re-run the Airpush detector app again and see what it tells me. Is there anything else I can/should do?

TVM

SnoopZ · 07-09-2014, 18:29

If that doesn't fix it, just save yourself the stress and go into the options and do a factory reset making the phone like new, just make sure you backup any photos etc that you want, your contacts should be saved already on your google account though.

techguyone · 07-09-2014, 19:19

If you do factory reset, and you don't have a micro sd card on the phone, make sure you save anything you want to keep like songs/films/data first or it will all disappear when you reset. Any apps & google contact stuff will be linked to your google account and will be fine.

Osem · 07-09-2014, 19:33

Thanks guys. Will bear that in mind if I have to go down that route. If I do the first things I'll look for are these apps.

Osem · 08-09-2014, 18:53

Just discovered that GSearch reinstalled itself yesterday but GFirewall hasn't reappeared yet and neither have the annoying adverts for now.

I also found this on the Malwarebytes forum which relates to the item mentioned in Jo's post above (com.uucun4470.android.cms) and is linked to a dubious alternative Playstore.

https://forums.malwarebytes.org/inde...rojansmsagent/

Not sure what the above tells me however. Perhaps someone could translate...

TIA

techguyone · 08-09-2014, 19:07

It means other people have your problem to, it looks very much like your phone is to blame

Consider getting a moto g you can get one for £120 or so, and is a fantastic phone (I have one)

Osem · 08-09-2014, 19:52

Thing is I like the phone I have and it's dual sim which I love. If it amounts to putting up with some annoying Ads I'd be reluctant to ditch it just for that. If it's something more sinister then of course I'd reconsider. Given how long I've had the phone, I'm slightly reassured that searching hasn't yielded lots of reports linked to this issue. It can't be much of a threat if nobody is reporting it... or can it?...

joglynne · 08-09-2014, 19:56

Have you tried Air Push Detector since the adverts reappeared Osem?

techguyone · 08-09-2014, 20:48

It's not being reported much because I suspect most people have a branded phone, especially now you have cheap good phones like the moto g now.

Osem · 09-09-2014, 10:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by joglynne

Have you tried Air Push Detector since the adverts reappeared Osem?

Yes and it shows nothing up.

Oddly although GSearch reappeared, GFirewall hasn't. Also I noticed that the dubious 'Playstore's' app. had some data on it despite being disabled so I've cleared all data and will check again to see if it stays that way.

@Techguyone

I take your point about these phones but loads of them are sold around the globe so if there'd been some sort of attempt to ship them with adware/malware, surely there'd be other reports of people finding this on the net.

I still don't know what 'com.uucun4470.android.cms' or 'com.zgs.gg.pack' relate to and whether they're part of the problem or not. Could it be that GSearch and GFirewall are nothing to do with the dubious 'Playstore' and have come from somewhere else.?

I checked back on Lookout 'recent activity' and found that these 2 apps first appeared on my phone a couple of weeks ago and it has only been since they did so that the adverts started. The only downloads it shows around the same time were updates to GooglePlayStore, Whatsapp and GooglePlayServices so it seems unlikely that they have anything to do with the 2 new apps.

I don't know if Lookout would list everything, however, so is there any way I can check to see when all my apps were downloaded and try to find out which one might have something to do with this issue?

I presume something else which got onto my phone somehow in the last few weeks could be causing these apps to download and if so where might that have come from and how would I go about finding and removing it? Would a reset get rid of something like that?

Thanks for the help guys it's much appreciated.

joglynne · 09-09-2014, 11:24

Osem the Phandroid forum thread I linked to in my first post is still active so it may pay you to keep an eye open over there for any developments. The latest post talks about ditching android and going over to Ubuntu but I don't know whether that would be feasible, or attractive, for you to consider. Maybe the other guys could give their opinions of this option?

Osem · 09-09-2014, 18:03

Yes thanks Jo I will keep an eye on it because I'm certain I can't be the only one who's getting this issue.

TVM