Web User - UK (2019-12-27)

Don’tuse

ES File Explorer

hasbeen involved

in d ubious business

with ads

X-plore File Managerispackedwithuseful

featuresand isfree of dodgyads

Don’tuse

CamScanner wasfound to be usinga

malicio us advertising module

AdobeScanturns

paperdocuments

intoeditable

digitalfiles

Awfulappstoavoidin2 020

COVER

FEATU

RE

27 Dec 2019-7Jan 2020 41

renamer,fastimageviewer,favourite

foldersandmore.Somefeatures–

includingamusicplayer,videoplayer

withsubtitles,avaultforpersonalfiles

andWi-Fifilesharing–requirea

donationtounlock.In-apppurchases

rangefrom90pto£ 14 .40peritem.

CamScanner

CamScannerisahandyappthatturns

yourphoneintoaportablescanner.

ItcanevenuseOCRtoconvertimages

intotext.Accordingtothedevelopers,

ithasbeeninstalledonmorethan 380

milliondevicesinover2 00 countries

aroundtheworld.Whiletheappitself

issafe,Kasperskyresearchersrecently

discovereditwasusinganadvertising

library“containingamaliciousmodule”,

APPS THATPOSE SECURITYTHREATS

whichcoulddownloadmalwareandsign

usersuptopaidsubscriptionsforother,

unwantedservices(bit.ly/camscan4 91 ).

Followingthisnews,Googlepulled

theappandCamScanner’sdevelopers

actedswiftlytoremovethemalicious

component.It’sbackuponGooglePlay

oncemore,butscansnowcomewith

alargewatermarkstampedonthem

andyou’rerequiredtosignupfora

premiumsubscription–costing$4.9 9

(£3. 81 )permonth/$ 49 .99(£38. 17 )per

year,whichrenewsautomatically–

tounlockmostfeatures.

AdobeScan

bit.ly/adobescan4 91

5 12

Adobe’sfree

scanningappfor

AndroidandiOS

canturnanypaper

documentintoa

PDF.Poweredby

AdobeSensei,the

appimprovesscans

bydetecting

borders,removing

shadowsandusing

OCRtoextract

text(including

handwriting).Its

toolsletyouadd,

removeandreorder

pages,aswellascrop,

rotateandadjustthecolourofimages.

AdobeScancannowremovemarks

fromyourscans,andthere’sadark

mode,too.Theonlycatchisthatyou

needtosignintoAdobetousetheapp.

ESFileExplorer

ESFileExplorerusedtobeoneofthe

best–ifnotthebest–third-partyfile

managersforAndroidbut,inrecent

years,it’sbeenembroiledinanumber

ofscandals.In2 01 6,itincorporated

asketchyfeaturecalleda‘charge

booster’,whichdisplayedadsonthe

user’slockscreenand,inJanuary2 01 9,

aresearcherfounditwasrunning

ahiddenwebserverinthebackground

(bit.ly/ESF4 91 ).

Morerecently,thesoftware’spublisher

wasinvolvedina‘clickfraud’scheme.

ABuzzFeedNewsinvestigation(bit.ly/

buzz 491 )found

thatsome

Androidapps

ownedbyDU

Global(itself

partlyowned

byChinesetech

giantBaidu)were

automatically

clickingads

withouttheuser’s

knowledgeand

sendingrecorded

datatoChina.

Google

respondedby

removingallthe

appsinquestion

andbanning

accounts

belongingto

DOGlobal.ESFileExplorerwas

removedinthiscullbecauseitwas

foundtobeownedbyDUGlobal(a

subdivisionofDOGlobal–keepup!)

andnotESGlobal,aswasclaimed.

Theappstillisn’tavailablethrough

GooglePlay,thoughitmayreturninthe

future.It’spossible to installitt hrou gh

other meansbut giveneverythingthat’s

happenedpreviously,our advice is to

steerwellclear.

X-ploreFileManager

bit.ly/xplore491

4.3

This file manageris an excellent

alternativ etoESFileExplorerand offers

an intuitivedual-pane tree view that

showsyou which files take up themost

spaceonyourdevice, whil eproviding

quick access to allthe popularcloud-

stor ageservices. Featuresinclude an

app manager, support forUSB OTG

(On-The-Go), abuilt-in PDFtool, batch

Usethisinstead

Usethisinstead

Apple’s AppStore hasalwaysbeen safer

than Google Play becausethe iPhone

developerruns morestringentquality-

controlchecks. Thevastmajority

of badappsmentionedin thisfeature arefor

Android,whichhas hadmultiplescares over

theyears,but things maybeabouttoimprovewith Google’snewly created

AppDefenseAlliance (bit.ly/appda491). This aimstoidentifymorePotentially

HarmfulApplications(PHAs) andtakeappropriateaction. Aswell as scanning

apps with itsownsystem,itwillnowalsouse scanningengines fromESET,

LookoutandZimperium. Also, thesearchgiant hasalready introduced more

thoroughchecks on appsfromnewdeveloperswhodon’t have aproventrack

record (bit.ly/bbcreport491).Apple, meanwhile, hasintroducedanew‘Signin

with Apple’ servicetohelp improveuser privacy.Users signinto appsand

websiteswiththeir AppleID butthelogindataisn’t shared, andthey can’t

trackorprofileyou.It’snot imperativefor appstooffer this service,so shady

apps will probablyignore it,but it’s still ausefuladditionalline of protection.

WHAT’SBEING DONE ABOUTAWFUL APPS?