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I have noticed a new Television icon appeared in my Android desktop. I have not clicked the icon thinking it could be a virus or spam. Never installed any Television application and I dont know how it appeared there. I have also Avast mobile antivirus installed.
Just saw this thread, it could be the same issue but wanted to be sure before deleting the icon:
Who is creating icons?

I looked in installed programs with Link2SD and with Android Task manager, and took a look to all programs and services one by one, but there is nothing installed with that name or icon.

Trying to guess what is it, dragged and dropped the icon to the information place in ADW Launcher desktop and it shows: "Android System" running process, which is a core Android process.

I remember having run "free GPSFix" some days ago, which is one of the applications which creates spam with red star messages at the top bar, but not sure if it could be also the application which created the icon.

This is the picture:
screenshot


*Deleted data and cache, and uninstalled with Link2SD the free applications GPSFix and Dados applications, they could be the reason of spam icons:
GPSfix
Dados (dices)

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xtrm
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  • If that "free GPSFix" is already known for that, I'd strongly recommend you kick it off your device (optionally, leave an appropriate comment/rating in Playstore before uninstalling, to warn others). There are more free (and serious!) apps available for that. And delete that icon (do not open the link), it's very likely to be spam (simply click the "malware" tag for more details). – Izzy Mar 18 '13 at 14:48
  • thank you Izzy, this is the app which creates a lot of spam, if you check people comments they are also reporting it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidlab.gpsfix&hl=es – xtrm Mar 18 '13 at 15:45
  • by the way, is it there anyway to get the path where the spam icon is linking to and analyse its code? I know apks can be uncompressed/recompiled and easily see their source code. – xtrm Mar 18 '13 at 15:48
  • I'm afraid your last comment's target is out of the scope here (reverse-engineering .apk files is rather a development oriented issue). As for the previous one: Having positively identified the cause, I will compile the corresponding comments into an answer (so people can see there's a solution). Would be nice if you then can "accept" it (as proved solution), so people can see that, too :) – Izzy Mar 18 '13 at 16:14

1 Answers1

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The GPSFix app is known for this kind of spam (see its comments on the Playstore), even AntiVirus/AntiMalware apps classify it as adware (taken from those comments, again).

Hence, my recommendation is:

  • optionally post a comment on the playstore to warn other users
  • uninstall that app
  • delete that icon (do not "start" it, as you cannot know where it takes you -- it might introduce more problems)

These kind of trouble-makers are no unknowns. Please see the questions tagged to find similar reports.

The playstore has enough replacement apps not offering those "unwanted side-effects" (take e.g. a look at GPS Status & Toolbox). So no need to shed any crocodile tears over that one app :)

Izzy
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  • When it comes to this kind of "adware", I'm always in fighting position. Ads inside of the app initiating them are OK (at least if you can buy the full version to get rid of them). But adding things to homescreens the user cannot trace, means war! IMHO Google even forbids this kind of ads, so one could "report" the app. – Izzy Mar 18 '13 at 19:30