You’re sitting there minding your own business, playing a game on your phone, when BAM — a full-screen ad explodes onto your screen screaming that you have 4,000 viruses. Your heart rate jumps. You panic. For most people it’s alarming, but if you’re not tech-savvy — and plenty of our wonderful senior customers aren’t — this feels like the end of the world. You’ve been hacked! Viruses! Cats and dogs living together!
Take a deep breath. It’s almost certainly not a virus. It’s adware. And before you hand your phone to anyone who wants to wipe it, read this.
It’s Not a Virus — It’s Adware
Here’s what’s actually happening on your phone. Adware is a type of app that hijacks your screen to show you advertisements. On Android phones this often looks like a full-screen pop-up ad that can even download another app, which then shows you even more ads. Some nasty ones can make your phone almost completely unusable.
None of this is a virus infecting your data. No one has “hacked” you. You haven’t lost your photos or your bank details. You’ve installed — sometimes without even knowing it — an app that is programmed to annoy you into seeing ads. That’s it.
One thing worth noting: Apple’s App Store does a much better job of keeping these apps out, so iPhone users rarely strike this problem. Android is unfortunately wide open to it, and Google has been slow to act. If you’re on a Samsung or another Android device, this is the kind of thing to be aware of.
The Rip-Off That’s Doing the Rounds
Here’s what’s making my blood boil. We’re getting reports from customers who’ve been quoted $175 to have their phone wiped clean — losing all their photos, contacts, messages, and app data in the process — when the actual fix takes minutes.
Charging $175 to wipe a phone for adware is like a mechanic replacing your entire engine because your windscreen wiper fluid is low. It’s either a fundamental misunderstanding of how phone software works, or it’s taking advantage of people who don’t know any better. Neither is acceptable.
Wiping a phone is a last resort for serious hardware or software failures. For adware, you don’t wipe anything. You remove the offending app.
What We Actually Do at Lithgeek
At our Monkey Bar helpdesk, we sort this out for a fraction of what those repair shops are charging — and we do it in front of you with a live timer running the whole time so you see exactly what you’re paying for.
Our rate is $80 per hour billed in 6-minute increments, with a minimum charge of $10. My personal record for fixing an adware-infected Android? Four minutes. Ten dollars. Most jobs come in under $30. We’ve had the occasional extra-stubborn case run up to $95, but that’s genuinely rare.
When you come in, you watch the clock tick. No mystery charges, no hidden fees — just honest, transparent work. And unlike a factory reset, you walk out with your photos, your contacts, and your sanity intact.
I’ve got a bit of background on this that most repair shops don’t: I used to manage app support for a major point-of-sale system across both Android and Apple platforms, and I’ve even had a go at developing a few apps myself (I found more important things to do, but I understand how the sausage is made). When you know how apps are built, you understand exactly how they misbehave — and how to stop them.
Apps to Avoid on Your Android Phone
These categories are the most common culprits when it comes to adware on Android. If you’ve got any of these installed from a source you don’t recognise, there’s a good chance that’s where your problem is coming from.
The built-in weather app that came with your phone is fine — it’s the third-party ones you want to avoid. The same goes for third-party PDF readers, antivirus apps, phone cleaning apps, QR code readers, and photo recovery apps. These categories are absolutely crawling with adware-funded apps that exist solely to generate ad revenue off unsuspecting users.
If you’re not sure whether an app is trustworthy, come in and we’ll have a look with you. We’re also more than happy to show you how to spot the dodgy ones so you can avoid the problem altogether next time.
We Can Also Help You Back Up What Matters
One of the real risks of getting this problem fixed by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing is losing your data in an unnecessary wipe. Your photos and contacts are irreplaceable. If you’ve been meaning to get a proper backup sorted, we can help with that too — and if you want to understand why it matters, we’ve written about the importance of backing up your devices.
For our senior customers especially — we run tech classes and training sessions specifically designed to help you get comfortable with your devices without needing to rely on someone who might not have your best interests at heart.
Come to Lithgeek First
If your phone is going haywire with ads and warnings, don’t panic and don’t let anyone wipe your phone. Come into Lithgeek in Lithgow first. We’ll show you exactly what’s wrong, fix it in front of you, and make sure you understand how to avoid it happening again.
We’ve even taught our sales staff how to remove adware — and they’re not techs. That’s how straightforward this fix actually is. Don’t pay $175 for something that should cost less than a pizza.
Get in touch with us here or just walk into the Monkey Bar helpdesk and we’ll take care of you.