I have read a few of the previous posts and I have to report that I have similar issues. Whenever I use the internet either with explorer or chrome (both preinstalled on Samsung A5) regardless of what site I try to visit, I am redirected to adverts which makes the browsers unusable. I have either visited a dodgy website or downloaded a dodgy app. I have completed scans with Norton and a couple of other mobile security apps but they cannot find a thing. I have cleared the cache and data and rebooted many times but the problen still exists. I have even had Norton security experts connect to my phone, they said that they had removed all threats, they also cleared the data and cache etc, but the problems still exists.
I have now disabled Chrome and Flipboard cleaned all cache and data again etc..... and I can now access the internet again. I suspect the virus, pup, or redirect is hidden within Chrome somewhere.
This is not a solution as I believe the problem will return if I enable Chrome again, but it may help someone out there who has suffered like I have.
This is not one site that I have visited but yesterday it was every site, I have tried wifi, 3g and even different countries, and even in Turkey I was redirected Turkish prize wining or antivirus sites, so the problem lies within an app on the phone....
I wonder how good the Norton Virus Protection Promise is?
Yes you can install Norton Mobile Security on an iPhone. But be aware the only features that work for IOS devices are the device location and contact backup. And you can get those features for free from Apple using the Find my Phone app and iCloud. And the Apple solutions work much better than Norton's
I note that Flipboard gets a Safe rating from Norton App Advisor but I have not been able to check Briefing as I do not have a Samsung phone. I hope the issue was an aberration and that you will not be troubled again. Thanks for posting back. Such updates are very helpful.
Today I enabled Flipboard again and yes its still stuffed, so I went along back into the Settings, Application Manager and started to scroll down the the Flipboard app, when I saw another app with the Flipboard logo in black and it is called Briefing. So I deleted the cache and data from Briefing, Flipboard, and Internet, disabled them all and played around with the phone and it appeared to be fine. I then enabled Internet and it appeared to be working fine, I then enabled Flipboard and Briefing and it all appears to be fine... I have been running the Internet and Flipboard Briefing for some 3 hours now without a hiccup, so I guess I am cured..... I now believe that the issues lay hidden in the cache or data of the Briefing app as the first time I cleaned it my system appears to be back to normal. If this changes I will return....
I have been playing a bit more and found the problem appears to be in the Flipboard Briefing app. With the flipboard app disabled internet access is just perfect. With it enabled whenever I google anything and try to go to any site the ads take over and rediect me to either 'I have just won' or 'your phone is infected.....etc' and I cannot do anything with it... and when I try to use flipboard it just directs me to the same ads and causes the same problems. With flipboard disabled internet and google appear to work just as they should.
Sadly I have no instant answer to your problem. As you are aware similar things have occured before. I suspect that it may be related to the setup of the phone. Where did you get yours and was it from a main stream provider? Is it locked to that provider? If so the issue may be in the basic phone software...
I look forward to your response. I will try and keep a close watch on this thread but please remember that I am just an unpaid user monitoring these forums in my "spare" time.
