For the first time in many many years I'll be getting a new one today. Nothing flash but it will suit my purposes (and was cheaper than buying a "burner"). My online use of it will be minimal (mostly done out of absolute neccesity).

What I would like to know from you is:

1:
Whats the best free antivirus / antimalware etc out there.

2:
I used to have a task killer program on my old phone. Not sure what the state of them is now, or if theres any software firewall variant available, but when and if i take the phone online, i want to be able to prevent or kill any troublesome "apps".

3:
Anything else worth knowing right now. My last phone was on android 2.0 or thereabouts. Been a good long time.

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If this thread attracts too much spam, please nod a mod to lock it. Hopefully I'll get worthy answers first. TA!

Edit: if it helps (i havent got the phone yet) but its supposedly running 6.0 or above.

Not sure if this is helpful but I don't use any Malware or Task Killer programs and haven't had many issues. I have found that my past two Sprint LG phones came pre-loaded with potentially bogus or helpful anti-virus program (named Lookout) as well as a host of scam shovelware advertisements (like it's impossible to delete Facebook). In sum, seems like my experience has been that most Android phones are ok out the box but bloatware heavy.

Neither are needed. Instead, make sure to not install too many apps in the first place and if there's a browser login available and that gets the job done, use that. Once you quit the browser, there are no apps in the background. Adblock Browser is recommended, it's based on Firefox but you won't need special applications or proxies or even root. Exclusions for a few sites might be necessary for them to work.

yeah the two ive had prior came with a variety of bloatware etc. apparently this one doesnt (if it does it may wll be going back). Thanks both of you. I guess ill have to wait and see whats what when it arrives shortly.

I have been using LineageOS, a custom rom which requires root, that get rid of all the bloatware that comes with phones these days. Using it with AFWall, a firewall that block all the telemetry and also AdAway for blocking ads in apps and sites you might visit.

AFWall and AdAway requires root access to work, you can find them on F-droid. For browsing I normally use the DuckDuckGo browser, simple and fast. There might be alternatives if you don't want to root the phone but haven't tried them.

I use NordVPN and Kasperky Anti-Virus. If you trust them, great. If not... Then there are places to look. I'd ask on the r/AndroidQuestions subreddit if you can use it. They are usually exceptionally helpful and fairly accurate most of the time.

I didnt realise they did one. will definately have to give that a look - even though im not planning to use it online much.

Well, thats good. It doesnt really have any "bloatware" other than google chrome, drive etc.

Theres a 30 day free version of AVG pro (i suppose ill let that play out), and its letting me disable / uninstall crud like the gmail app too.

Edit: if somebody can bump somebody for this to be locked (i dont have PMs turned on at all) that would be appreciated to prevent any spambots down the line.