I am currently using the Samsung Galaxy S Duos and the problem with my phone right now is that whenever I turn on my device, it automatically starts downloading unnecessary apps. How do I solve this issue?

—Tenzen Gyalpo

Dear Tenzen,

Your phone won’t start downloading apps at random, you must have installed a malicious software that might be forcing these downloads. I’m also certain that these apps aren’t being downloaded from the Google Play Store, because if it were, you should probably let it download since the apps might be important updates for your phone. But if it’s not being downloaded from the play store and you’re certain that they’re unwanted apps, check for any application that might be causing this. Think over it, when did these downloads first start happening and what app did you install during that time. Figure this out and uninstall any app that might be forcing these downloads because Android will not download any files without your consent. If you can’t identify the apps, run a quick virus scan, the malicious code might not be visible on your phone. Download any antivirus software, AVG is a good option, and run a full device scan. This should identify the virus on your phone and help you delete it. If it doesn’t, you might have to revert back to default factory settings. To do this, you will need to boot into recovery mode, you can do this by holding down the power, volume up and home keys. After the Samsung logo appears, release the held keys and you should be greeted with a basic menu with an option called ‘wipe data / factory reset’. Highlight this option by navigating with the help of the volume buttons and accepting by clicking the home button. Be aware that doing this will get rid of all of your personal data as well, so backup whatever you need before factory resetting your device.

I flashed my Android device randomly several times and now, my device just won’t start. The device is stuck in boot-loop where the device starts but resets immediately. What should I do to fix this issue?

—Pawan Shrestha

Dear Pawan,

Boot-looping is an advanced problem that occurs when you flash new roms. This can happen because of various different problems, invalid permissions, bad ROM file and improper dalvik-cache management among others. There are a lot of different solutions for this issue but the easiest one would be to boot into your recovery and wipe your dalvik-cache and wipe your/cache partition. If this does not work, download a new ROM and see if installing the new ROM helps. Also make sure that you’re downloading ROMs that are specifically made for your device, because even though ROMs are developed for different kinds of phone, you also need to make sure that it supports your specific device, compare your device model number with the supported model number of the ROM. Also, make sure that you’ve installed custom bootloaders and recoveries because third-party ROMs don’t work without these recoveries. CM Recovery and TWRP recoveries are the safest recoveries to install. If none of these work, you might need to run scripts from the device’s recovery settings. There are a lot of scripts that you will need to run through the terminal and explaining all of that here is not possible. So my suggestion would be to google ‘How to recover from a bootloop’, there is an excellent article on xda-university, that is exactly what you’re looking for. Read through this and go through all of the recovery steps mentioned here to find a solution. This is an advanced problem and if you think you can’t fix it, maybe try taking it to a repair shop for repairs.

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