Web User - UK (2019-12-27)

Usethisinstead

Don’tuse

CleanMasterpromises

to remove junk butit’s

complete rubbishitself

Usethisinstead

Don’tuse

Don’tuse

Usethisinstead

VideoCompress is

supportedbyads

butyoucan remove

them for just 99p

ThisQR codereader

looksusefulbut it’s

designedto ripyou off

SmartVideo

Compressor is one

of 17 iOSappsinfected

with aclickerTrojan

44 27 Dec 2019-7Jan 2020

CleanMaster

Thishugelypopularapp promisesto

remove junkfiles from your Android

phone,boostitsperformance, protect

your privacy andphonesecurity, and

safeguar dyou from viruses.With overa

billion usersand afive-starrating, it’s

gottobebrilliant –right?

Digthrou gh theless enthusiastic

reviews, however,and you’ll see

complain tafter complaint regarding

excessiveand intrusivefull-screen

adverts, and aggressivenag screens

pushin gyou

to upgrade

to the

paid-for

Premium

version.

Userswho

have

upgraded

complain

they stillsee

adverts

afterwards.

The

amount of

spaceClean

Master

free sup

is su spect,

and it’s

amassive

resource

hog,causing

anyphone

it’s insta lled on to slowdownrather

than speed up,while drainingthe

battery. Usersalso complain that some

of th eadverts it displa ys have overly

sexual content.

FilesbyGoogle

bit .ly/files491

5

If youwantanapp that canfreeup

spaceonyourphone,boost

RESOURCE HOGS

removethementirely.Youcanalso

upgradetotheUnlimitedversionofthe

appfor£4. 99.

QRCodeReader

Ifyourphone’scameradoesn’thave

abuilt-inreaderforQRcodes,thereare

plentyofappsthatofferthisuseful

functionality.QRCodeReader-Barcode

scanner&QRCodeScannerisn’tthe

mostelegantlytitledofthesesolutions,

butthat’snotevenitsbiggestproblem.

Theapp,whichhasnowbeen

removedfromGooglePlay,displayeda

delugeofannoyingfull-screenadsand

pusheduserstosubscribetoathree-day

freetrialto

unlockall

itsfeatures.

Afterthetrial

expired,

theapp

automatically

charged

anannual

subscription

of$ 95 .That’s

morethat

£70forthe

privilegeof

usingaQR

scanner!

AndroidPolicedocumentedits

findingsontheappat bit.ly/apolice 491.

TrendMicroQRScanner

bit.ly/tmqr 491

4.4

TrendMicroisawell-respectedsecurity

company,sothefocusofitsQRscanner

isonmakingsurethatanybarcodesyou

scan aresafe.Should acode trytotake

yousomewheredangerous, it will be

blockedand reported insta ntly .The app

is entirely free and thereare no third-

partyadverts to pester you. It canscan

QR codes

directly

through your

device’s

cameraor

by reading

saved

images.

evencreateyourownphototheme.

SwiftKeyKeyboardsupportsover3 00

languagesandletsyouenableuptofive

atthesametime.Italsoofferstap-to-

typeorswipe-to-typefunctionality,to

makecomposingmessagesabreeze.

SmartVideoCompressor

Ifyou’vecapturedsomevideofootage

youwanttosharewithfriendsand

family,butyourfilmistoolargefor

emailoryourfavouritemessagingapp,

thenSmartVideoCompressor,foriOS

andiPadOS,canhelp.Thesoftware

claimstoreducethesizeofHDvideoby

70 -80%andprovidelivecompression

progress.Soundsgreat,right?

Unfortunately,SmartVideo

Compressorwasoneof17appsfrom

IndiandeveloperAppAspect

TechnologiesthatWandera(bit.ly/

wandera4 91 )foundtobeinfectedwith

clickerTrojanmalware.Thissimulated

useractions–openingwebpages,

clickinglinks

inthe

background

andmore–

tofraudulently

collectad

revenue.

Apple

removedall 17

oftheinfected

appsfromthe

AppStoreas

soonasitwas

informed

aboutthem,butthere’sachanceyou

maystillhaveoneinstalled.

VideoCompress-ShrinkVids

bit.ly/shrinkv491

1.3

Thisapp –also availablefor Android–

canshrinkyourmobilevideossothey’re

easiertosharevia email, messag ing

apps and online.It

worksasdescrib ed

butisf undedby

ads, which youcan

choose to make

person alised or

non-personalised,

or pay99p to

Free up spaceon your phoneusing the

marvellous free FilesbyGoogle

Youcan trust

TrendMicro to

scan QR codes

for hidden

security

threats