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>...but by far the best way to avoid malware infestation is to use a little common sense... Also, people should stop wearing seatbelts, and just start driving

• martey 15y ago
  That's a poor analogy. It's difficult to get infected with Android malware without directly installing questionable applications on your phone, but it is pretty easy to get into an accident through no fault of your own.
  • eogas 15y ago
    I think you (and the author) give the average user too much credit. To most people on HN, it's probably pretty obvious that downloading applications directly from sketchy sources is a good way to have your device become infected by malware, but the average user might not realize this. They might not even realize that a source is sketchy. This is anecdotal, but after about the 10th time reinstalling my parents OS, I finally discovered that the root of all their malware-related problems stemmed from the fact that they were downloading music using Limewire. It hadn't crossed their minds that perhaps this was not a very good idea. I'm sure they genuinely believed that their computer was repeatedly being infected "through no fault of their own".
    • vetinari 15y ago
      The installation from non-market sources is disabled by default. The users have to go to settings and check the checkbox allowing side-loading of applications. So they will not install it by accident, it has to be wilfully.
      • sukuriant 15y ago
        Some websites and applications require you to allow third party apps to run their applications; and if those websites can get a seasoned computer user to change the setting, I imagine a less legitimate site could encourage the less informed to do the same. I'm looking at you, GrooveShark.