Android Tablets; Antivirus?

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I've ordered a cheap Android tablet from Amazon which should arrive in a few weeks. I'm a total Android noob. Will it need anti virus software? If so any recommendations? Is there a version of Firefox for Android? What about my other favourite progs such as VLC and Thunderbird? I assume TrueCrypt would be a bridge too far?

Most anti-virus apps for Android are crap, but Zoner is actually quite decent--and free. You can download it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... irus&hl=no

Google Play have few (if any) high-risk malware apps. Unless you install pirated software on it, you should be safe.

Yes, I'm a public tester (occasionally also an app dev) and you can download Firefox Stable, Beta & Aurora (Nightly build) for Android, as .APK executables or on Play Store. If you use Tbird for Gmail, I'd recommend just using Gmail's app (for the quick sync), although you could always search a myriad of alternatives tailored for Mozillians. I think there may actually be truecrypt for Android, but I can't say what file browsers it might work with. You could always just use TOR instead. If I were to install an anti-mal/spy/ware thingy, it would be Avast. But I didn't, you can expect similar results from installing only well-repute applications and learning to rewrite the whole Android install on your tablet - known as rooting, it basically would grant you Admin rights over the factory OS, or allow you to upgrade for yourself.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

Thanks for the replies. Looks like there will be quite a lot to learn.

If you've dealt with a Linux PC before, most of the nitty gritty will be relatively simple, although not necessarily all graphical if you want everything to run your way; the same way a server won't differentiate between inputs from programs & users, Android's framework is built in the same languages and code editors as its' apps - if your purchase leaves you starving for updates, you can probably thank these guys for just building their own.
http://www.cyanogenmod.org/

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

I know next to nothing about Linux. Tried Ubuntu on this laptop but it didn't work properly - a lack of drivers, so I had to scratch it.
Sounds like it will be fun messing with the tablet. Maybe the first task will be to figure out what to backup and how to restore the OS if it all goes tits up?

Viruses for android are more of a urban legend than true. Of course, there are some but as long as you install only apps from the Store you should be fine. The only "virus" thing I ever experienced on android was an ad of an antyvirus software saying "Your mobile phone got a virus! Install XYZ now to get rid of it". Yeah, right. As if I believe. Ads like this appear quite often. But they are just ads, mere jpg files. You close the ad and you don't see any unusual activity and checking the device with an antyvir also doesn't find a thing.

I gave up any antyviruses on android recently since they were doing nothing but slowing my device down. I use only Clean Master, a tool to remove junk files with an antivirus feature included. And so far everything seem perfectly fine.

About browsers I suggest Opera Mini and Dolphin browser. Firefox for android sucks in my opinion.
Opera is the fastest android browser and it saves the data transfer (useful when you use a mobile internet) but it doesn't serve flash. Dolphin on the other hand is slower but it will run flash and some websites that Opera can't. For example Wrong Planet doesn't load on Opera Mini for some reason but loads on Dolphin just fine.
You might also try the Puffin browser. It is a combain that will allow the websites to run just like they do on a PC screen. It even allows you to use keyboard and mouse to navigate instead of touch screen if you choose to. But free version of Puffin holds flash only during the daytime in US and seem a bit slower than Opera Mini.

Get the Xabber communicator. It allows you to use gtalk, facebook messanger and a lot other communicators using just one app. Pretty useful.

Screen Saver app will make your device to eat less battery and your eyes won't hurt that much when using the device in dark.

MX Player is probably the best movie player for android.

Jota+ is a notebook app making .txt files so you can write stuff on your tablet and your computer will be able to read them. You might also use OfficeSuite (similiar to MS Office) to open, make and edit .doc files etc.

Moon+Reader is a decent m-book reader.

Battery Doctor will make your device last longer on one charge. It made my lame mobile phone able to hold 3-4 days instead of 1,5day.

That's it I guess. Other apps I got are my interests related (astronomy, thunderstorms, anime apps)

About back-up. If you mess up with the device so bad if won't run you won't be able to do anything to fix it yourself. But as long as the device turns on you can use the restore to defaults thing. It returns your device to the way it was before you first used it. Just remember the names of apps you liked and install them again. The install files should still be available on the Store and I believe Google stores the install files downloaded by you somewhere in your google account too, if not there is plenty of them in the internet. Most of the apps will save user data on the SD card so you shouldn't lose them that easily.

You can backup over Google accounts for all the ordinary user data, but the allure of rooting means the ability to back up all apps you've downloaded, as opposed to just re-provisioning the device from the Google servers. It lets you keep applications that might not be hosted any more. Android apps are proprietary .ZIP files (with the .apk extension) and you can download the whole factory image of the tablet, or upgraded versions free, also as *signed* .zip volumes. Yes, root precludes most warranties, although with some devices there are loopholes, others ship with root permissions or CyanogenMod preinstalled.

Drivers are a prerequisite of getting any of this running, so all it comes down to is finding the software features you want for your precise model, preferably one vetted by users on a forum like this (XDA Developers & MoDaCO are great), and all the chipsets will do just fine, provided you install stable code.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

Yes rooting voids the warranty but I generally go by the rule if it makes it past the first 30 days, I no longer worry about it. Why? Like most electronics the first short bit that they fail is called infant mortality. If it makes it past this, they will likely last for a very long while.

Personally I have run into viruses and yes many anti-viral packages slow the thing down. However I use Avast on my Android platforms and it is as fast and efficient as it is on the windows platforms. Additionally if you root then you can use their firewall and actually allow or disallow applications access to the web. Why would you do this? Generally many of the free apps track you and sell info. Or they put up ad banners that are most annoying. I like to prevent that sort of thing.

Not sure if that has SD slot but if it does I would of course populate it. I use titanium backup and back them up to my SD cards so I can individually restore what I like to. You can also freeze apps that you don't want running. Again these manufacturers like to load "bloatware" on these things and it is safer to just freeze it as opposed to deleting it in case you accidentally try to deactivate some bit of an application that the device requires.

If you get very brave, you can partition the device using something called SafeStrap or one of its equivalents. This allows you to retain the original OS but also add aftermarket ones to the device. I am a big fan of Cyanogenmod and currently have upgraded my device to CM11 which is the newest KitKat OS from Google. It is worth upgrading to as it runs so much faster and is very stable. You may however already have KitKat on the device since it is a new purchase. I have noticed some so-called new devices for sale are still running Froyo which is years old. Combine that with the fact that some manufacturers seem to NEVER update their products when they are quite capable of running the newer OSs offered by Google. They of course want you to buy the latest and greatest from them.

Have fun with it and I am sure you will enjoy it!

Edit: Oh and firefox for Android totally sucks. I don't how to put it nicely, it is REALLY BAD. I would opt for Dolphin (my fav) or Opera both of which are much better.

Also you may find much information on your device at this forum. I am on there and have been a member for some time. You will find LOADS of info, tips, different flavours of Android for you device, etc.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php

The motherboard on a laptop I once had was destroyed after four months, and on another computer, the hard drive was destroyed after six months.Most tablets are fairly robust, with a low error rate, but you never know.

Generally speaking, the stock android browser is really good, but third party browsers may offer additional features, such as three.js support.

Thank you everyone for all the excellent tips and advice. Just got to wait for it to arrive in the post now.