Ok, as I stated in another topic I had this Samsung tablet with Android on it, and I decided to gift it to a friend on mine, who in turn gifted it to another friend etc, I lost the track of the tablet.
The thing is that I installed this software on the tablet (Avast Anti-Theft) and completely forgot about it. Now I keep getting SMS on my private phone from that tablet in which I’m informed that the user has changed the SIM card. And I don’t know what exactly is happening to that tablet but I get LOTS of messages these days. I happened to put my girlfriends number in there as well I think as she’s getting the same messages on her phone.
Now I asked Avast Support to help me with this issue and they recommended me to contact the owner. How to do that? That’s a TABLET not a mobile phone. I cannot give the tablet a call right? I tried an sms but no response, and I think tablets cannot receive SMS on mobile SIM card. And even if so, I guess the operator forbids this somehow from the network. So with no way to contact the owner, or disable the stupid service I’m left with incoming messages from that tablet. And more so, Avast basically says “yea…well…though luck!”
So by this forum message I’m urging everyone NOT to use this silly, underdeveloped application. It will cause you more trouble than good. And I will post this happening on every other mobile device forum that I can afford to.
Avast should stick to designing Tic Tac Toe games for Android. Security (with privacy) is obviously more than they can handle!
Sorry , but you are the author of your own problems.
You should have removed the software prior to handing the device over.
All the similar apps I have seen work pretty well the same. The whole point of the system is to inform the owner where their device is.
You failed to update the ownership info, or remove the app.
Unlike some of the users, I don’t work in a secure environment, nor does my life revolve around security issues. I just tried some apps on the tablet.
Can you accept that there are scenarios in which you cannot wipe the software? I mean, being a social being I guess one could fathom a scene where a friend says “Hey man, I like the tablet, can I try it for a few days?” And then, as it’s maybe hard in that particular moment, you see that you may not be able to meet the person for some time and decide to gift the tablet. Do you understand where I’m going with this? It does NOT matter that I couldn’t wipe the tablet. At the moment this service disturbs my life in various moments with those messages and I might find myself obligated to sue the Avast company for these troubles. I really don’t care what the app is supposed to do, or how it does it. I am the owner and I decide when it stops, not Avast. If avast cannot present me an option to stop this nonsense EVEN if I forgot my pin number or haven’t registered on god-knows-what-portal I will present my situation to the court and let them decide if Avast policy is a go or should change, and also me being a bad sleeper, those sms messages woke me in the middle of the night and have impaired my work the next days. Does that seem good enough reason and circumstance for you?
Disclaimer: I don’t work with the mobile products, so this is my personal view.
The application is an anti-theft tool - i.e. it is supposed to behave like that. You installed that application so you probably wanted that behavior in case the tablet got stolen. When you gave the tablet away, that has changed… but how should the application distinguish between the device having been stolen and having been given as a present? If the device is stolen, the application should be hard to remove, invisible, persistent - so that you can get your device back.
I understand that you don’t want to get those SMS messages now, but if the tablet cannot receive SMS (which is the remote way of communication, unless registered into the account and connected to WiFi), what solution do you expect? It is the tablet that sends you those messages (i.e. the application on that tablet), not the company, so how can the company stop that?
Well, this is constructive, as maybe the “company” (I’m really having a hard time giving ANY credit to the bunch of people calling themselves Avast) learns a thing or two from the info here.
I agree, I never said the software isn’t working as intended, all I’m saying here is that the Avast “company” isn’t working as intended.
You see, if you release a product like this, a security software, you have to have support for it. You can not just “bug” a device with it and move on. You have to think things through. This is what makes the distinction between a low end company and a top company. Do you understand where I’m going with this?
So, in a security application you have to know all possible angles, and provide support for them. A lot of people are getting serious apps out, and they don’t have a “company” behind them, they code themselves and still offer great support for free products.
So back to issue I’m having. The software asks me (at first) to put in my contact info in case the tablet gets stolen. I use my mobile number. So if the tablet gets stolen, the software sends an SMS to my mobile number with some details about the sim card that was put inside the tablet. All fine and dandy. By this the software is basically recognizing me as the initial owner. This logic must be right. There is nothing that ties the tablet to me, other than the comm channel between me and the tablet. That is, again, my phone number. My phone number is the Holy Grail of the software. It is the only thing that the software has. My mobile phone number is it’s foster Mother and Father to which it cries out when someone else has the device. Ergo, that number is recognized as the definitive authority in the binary world of the software (other than the authority of Avast, the natural parent of the software). So given the above statements, doesn’t that make my phone number (that actually gets disturbed by the no more wanted rogue-gone child called Anti-Theft Avast) the only thing tying the software to the owner in the eyes of Avast??? Shouldn’t I be able to identify myself by that number alone to Avast so I could decide if I want to stop the SMS? Is it that hard for avast to send a confirmation code to that number, then I’d be able to introduce that number into any kind of interface so I decide what to do with my device? Isn’t that already widely used in a plethora of application all over the world?
I don’t care that Avast says “well, we can’t…we aren’t able…” That’s not good enough! I don’t care that Avast didn’t figure this thing out, wasn’t able to implement such a simple piece of code into their product, or offer some kind of solution!!!
So, what’s the solution to my problem? Because of your product, I’m having troubles. Your PIN code or portals are not good enough for me! This is a privacy issue, and is complicating my life at times that I don’t need it.
There’s a strict policy regarding SPAM online, and companies can suffer lots from it. And I never saw a company that sends a newsletter that ever told me “look fella, you have to remember your pin code that you chose when you first signed up for this newsletter. If not, then you better have an account on THE portal so you can sign yourself out”. No, they offer you the quickest possible way to do that.
So, I am saying that your messages are spam, and I want to opt-out. Where’s that option? I do have my mobile number, still. It’s the one getting spammed by your unwanted messages. Can you use that to identify me? (talking to Avast).
There's a strict policy regarding SPAM online, and companies can suffer lots from it. And I never saw a company that sends a newsletter that ever told me "look fella, you have to remember your pin code that you chose when you first signed up for this newsletter. If not, then you better have an account on THE portal so you can sign yourself out". No, they offer you the quickest possible way to do that.
you see, the big difference here is, that we don’t send the SMS. It’s all done on the device in an app you installed and configured.
However, you have two options now:
- if you still remember your avast! PIN, use this SMS command to deactivate Anti-Theft:
the phone number you’ll send it to, is the phone number which sends you the (unwanted) SMS.
SET PROTECTION
Sample: 2222 SET PROTECTION 0
Will enable or disable Anti-Theft protection (0 = turn off, 1 = turn on)
Caution: By using this command you will
completely disable the avast! Anti-Theft system
thus rendering the Anti-Theft protection useless.
- If you don’t have the avast! PIN, you still have the phone number of the new owner.
Call him and ask him to uninstall Anti-Theft.
You can send him this “how-to” for an easier uninstallation:
to uninstall our app please proceed as follows:
- open avast! Mobile Security, open the settings and select the “avast! Anti-Theft removal wizard”. When it’s done you can uninstall avast! Mobile Security like any other app.
- if you no longer have avast! Mobile Security installed and just want to uninstall Anti-Theft you can either reinstall avast! Mobile Security to use the wizard or proceed in these steps:
open your phone’s app manager and uninstall the app with the custom name you chose on installing avast! Anti Theft. In many cases the name is “Update Agent”.
If you can’t find Anti-Theft like this, please go through all installed apps. Look for apps you don’t know what they are doing. If you come across an app you don’t know, select it in the app manager.
You’ll see some options along with a list of permissions the app requests in the android system. If the list matches this list:
https://support3.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=1252&nav=0
you found Anti-Theft. Just uninstall it.
Of course you can just uninstall all apps you don’t know, as it’s most likely that you don’t need them if you don’t know them. You can’t ruin anything here, as all system related apps are uninstall protected.
If you find the app and the uninstall fails, please remove the app from the device administrators list (you can find it in your phone’s settings).
If the uninstall fails please remove the app from the device administrators list (you can find it in your phone’s settings).
Regards,
Werner