text:
How to root Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini?
Does anybody know how to root the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini?

Model Number : GT-I8190
Android Version : 4.1.2

You might like to start by reading the tag wiki for [tag:rooting].

And if the hardware is not that different, steps for the Galaxy S3 might apply for the mini as well.

Usually Faramaroot app works for root , incase if it is not working that you should try by connecting you mobile to pc with usb debugging and use Root Genius software and try root. Download from here -  http://www.shuame.com/en/root/

You can root your Galaxy S3 Mini without computer without PC.

Go to Settings>Security>Check Allow Unknown resources.
Download Root Master 2.0 apk from here.
Install it as normal apk. Open the app and click root.
Now the phone will restart and you'll see Kinguser in your app
drawer.
To Verify Root, Download Root Checker Basic from Playstore.

Regards,
Phantasam

Did not work for me

Strange. Well you can try flashing the cf root file via Odin.

I used towelroot
https://towelroot.com/
to root a GS3 Mini (another variant though) successfully. I guess its worth a try!

Thank you for suggesting an answer (though link-only it is). However, there is not much in this answer other than the name of the app (already in the tag-wiki suggested in a comment under the question). Please make this answer  useful by adding instructions(know-how).

link says - "Your connection is not private".

Dear, Firelord. If someone succeeded using this resource, than the answer is valid. Now, let's see how many upvotes it will get.


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Is Samsung Note 10.1 a rooted device?
Is Samsung Note 10.1 a rooted device?
Some apps require this option.

By default, all devices do not have root, and are using stock ROM.
You need to root your device manually.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
How to root the LG Optimus 2 AS680?
I have an LG Optimus 2 AS680. It is running the gingerbread 2.3.4 system. I have yet to find a program or any reliable method to root the phone.
I am looking to increase my internal memory to about 1 or 2 GB because I am tired of running out of memory and it just makes things complicated.
Thank you.

This may or may not work for you and do it at your own risk but I jut rooted and loaded a custom ROM to a LG Optimus S that many had said couldn't be done because of the OTA update that would put it out of the reach of the exploit. It required a little extra work, but was doable and only took me about 2 hours.
Now I am not 100% certain this will work for you because I don't have this particular device to try, BUT, the foundation of the rooting method is valid for it and should work for this as well, no harm in trying.
Get the drivers specific to your device from LG if you can find it and if not just get it here, this is not related to me but I got some stuff from them in the past and its been clean.
Then after that, try following the instructions put out here, note its for the Optimus S but the way to do it is the same for pretty much all the Optimus line, its your driver that is important and you can get that. You can use the Manual method if you know what you are doing and are comfortable with it, that's how I did it but you can also download the optiauto.zip or .exe to do it as well so its somewhat automated for you.
Good luck with it, let us know how it goes and if you run into anything that you can't figure out, shoot me a message here and I will see what I can do for you.

This budget device has been largely sold to prepaid phone carriers and they are not part of large development community. So, there is no official root method for this device yet. However, I hope this blog post will help you.

If you could summarise the content of the link in case it goes down that would make for a much better answer.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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Read Out Text Messaging Notification
I just bought a new Galaxy S 4 over the weekend - I did some light googling on this topic, but no luck yet.
I want to know how to configure my Text Messaging Notifications.
Ideally, the phone would audibly say:

Message Received
(Optionally) Then it would read the subject line if there was one.

This is possible with Tasker. However, I'm not sure you can read out a subject line, since an SMS does not normally have a subject line. It DOES have a body.

Create a Profile. In the profile tab, create a new profile (+ button) > Event > Phone > Received text. Click back button (to create the profile).
Assign a task to the Profile. After you click the back button, a dialog will pop-up. Click New Task. Name it (e.g. Read SMS). In Task Edit screen, create a new action (+ button) > Misc > Say. In Text, type "Message received". You can also edit the Pitch (of the voice) or its speed. Click back (to create the action). If you want the text body to be read, create a new action (+ button) > Misc > Say. In Text, click the label button to the right, select Text Subject.

When you receive a message, you will be able to hear "Message Received", and the text body (if you added an action for that).


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I have reset my phone samsung galaxy fit through factory data reset... Now my contacts are deleted
How can I recover my contacts? (They were stored on phone memory.) I have also saved all my sd card data.

If you haven't synced them with your Google Account, nor you stored them in your sim card, then your contacts are lost since a factory reset means a wipe of the phone memory.


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Android - I modified vold.fstab and lost access to my SD card
I have samsung galaxy ace GT-S5830, it has very low internal memory (181 MB).
I have an external micro SD card of 16 GB, but still couldn't install many apps due to insufficient internal memory.
I read in internet that if i modify vold.fstab and replace the word sdcard with sdcard2 in it, then my external sd card
will act as internal memory.
So I rooted my phone and got superuser app (which can allow root access to various user apps)
But I haven't installed clockworkmod recovery or any other custom ROM yet.
I installed ES File explorer on SD card and allowed root access to it via superuser app.
I then went to /system/etc/ from ES file explorer , edited vold.fstab and replaced the word sdcard with sdcard2
Now i restarted my phone and the external SD is no more accessible. My "ES File Explorer" is also no more there for me to able
to undo the change that i did.
I tried intalling ES file explorer again from my data connection, but the installation fails (and phone reboots immediately).
I am not able to install any new apps.
I am unable to access my external SD card, so I can't put anything there via PC or via recovery.
I tried pressing the power button + home button to go into system recovery mode. I see only these options
Androd system recovery <3e>

reboot system now
apply sdcard:update.zip
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition

When i try to select the second option, it says installation aborted as the SD card is no more accessible
I tried to select 3rd and 4th options, but that didn't help either - I think factory reset will not reset vold.fstab :-(
I only have the default apps + superuser app now
I somehow need to find a way to get write permission to /system/etc or to /system/etc/vold.fstab
Luckily I found "Android Commander". Installing it on my windows PC and I am able to connect my android phone
and I am able to access root folder. But I am not able to push a modified vold.fstab to /system/etc because
Android Commander says "no Root Access" - It is seeing it as read only :-(
can someone let me know how i can edit this file again ? I have a original vold.fstab in my PC, but I am not able to push
it to my phone via Android Commander as Android Commander is seeing it as Read Only.
Is there a way to give root access (aka read-write access) to Android Commander via superuser app on my android ?
Is there any other way to get write permission to /system/etc/vold.fstab so that i can modify it or replace it ?

I don't know about Android Commander, but a simpler way (in my opinion) would be to use ADB. You may have already installed the Android SDK (if not, go here). I assume that you don't have modified your System Path.

Move your vold.fstab to C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools or C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools
Go to the android-sdk folder, shift+right click on platform-tools and choose "Open command prompt here"
If your device is 4.0 or above, type adb root
adb remount (this will make /system writable)
adb push vold.fstab /system
adb reboot

This should do the trick.

my device is having froyo 2.2.1
and phone model is Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830

I'd remove windows specific instructions as they're not related to the question.


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How to enable mobile network in Android Tablet
I have got Karbonn Ta-Fone A34 tablet. By default its mobile network options is permanently inactive.
Now I have rooted my tablet and want to enable to mobile network option.
Is there any way I can browse the Android System files and make changes there to enable the mobile network or if there is any app to do this.

yes there are lots of widgets, which allow directly from home screen..  you can use go widgets..  or simply search network enable widget etc.

Disable means it is permanently inactive

@Sidh If you want better answers, you should update the question to mention that you're using an external 3G modem, and answer my question about SIM cards.

According to the specs you linked, this tablet doesn't support 3G mobile networks, only GSM. To enable the mobile network features, you need to buy a 3G USB dongle and connect it to the tablet.

Even after connecting the dongle, Mobile network option remain inactive..

Is there a 3G SIM card in the dongle?

Too bad you can't; the network specs are;  2G: GSM 900, GSM 1800, that does not mean it has something to do with the software used or OS, its network adapter can only support 2G network.
That said, it doesn't mean you shouldn't try some apps.here are some you can give a shot at; 2G/3G, network conversion, network change...some may work and others may not. You could also get a 3G modem to work this out for you. Some applications will show you that the network is changed to 3G, I wouldn't buy that though. Get some ways of testing your network speed after installing an app just to make sure. Let me know when it works.glad to help.

Just want to let you know that all of these links are dead; the apps are not available anymore.


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I need Android USB driver of Turkcell Maxi Plus 5
I have Turkcell Maxi Plus 5, and I didn't find a USB driver for it. Where can I get the correct driver for it?
I have windows 7 32 bit

Are you sure it needs a specific driver? What are you trying to achieve?

You will need to edit your questions and provide a few more details on what you want to achieve: Using ADB? Accessing the storage?

I wil use adb to debug my applications


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Screen Translation?
How can the text in a running app be translated?
Ideally, I would like it to be automatic, like the translation Google Chrome Desktop does.
Second best solution, If the above is not possible, to be able to translate a screenshot taken from the device (without using a PC, and preferably without internet connection).

I have tried to translate the screenshot with Google Translate and Google Goggles (Thanx @forums), but the former can only work with the camera, and not with a stored file, where as the later does not correctly identify all texts (see comments below).
OS/Device (if that matters): Android 4.2.2, LG Nexus 4

I use Google Goggles to scan barcodes, qr codes, objects, and also translate foreign aliens :P
It also has an option to open images from gallery including screenshots. Unfortunately, I have no knowledge of any in-app translation app. The developer should be responsible for that matter

Developers are irresponsible here :P. Thanx I will give it a try...

Tried it but I could not set OCR language. Also, it does not recognize all the parts with text. Could not figure out how to manually select area for OCR. But it is a cool App anyway!


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How do I get rid of volume limit on android
How do I get rid of volume limit on galaxy note 10 lite? I tried turning off volume limit and also by turning it on while keeping volume limit to max volume. But none helped. In both cases, I was not able to increase volume past 50%. And this is utterly irritating. Today I downloaded a youtube video on home WiFi so that I can watch it while travelling. But I wasn't able to listen to anything due to high ambient noise during traveling. With volume limit, I can still listen at home, as the noise isnt that much, but today, I realised that I simply cannot listen to anything while traveling due to high noise outside.
Here is the screen recorded video.
I am running Android 11 and One UI v 3.1.

Can you boot into safe mode and try raising the volume to max limit so as to rule out a third-party app interfering with your volume levels? Since when did this problem start appearing? Was your device (Android OS) recently updated?

Yes / no. In the safe mode volume limit does not work at all. We can increase the volume regardless whether the volume limit is OFF or ON with low volume limit. Here is the video trying out volume limit in the safe mode. So, yes / no: YES: we can increase the volume to MAX, but NO: volume limit doesn't seem to work at all.

This is buggy behavior from your system. In safe mode, volume limit should work when it is enabled by user and should not work only when it is disabled by user. Anyhow, Reboot into Android, and follow my answer here: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/214999/96277. Most likely a third party app is interfering with your volume levels. That said, you might want to explore Developer options to see if you have any related setting that might be causing this problem.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Suspicious notification from "Find My Mobile"
I just received a notification from Samsungs "Find My Mobile" service, without having triggered anything. The same thing happened to my work mate today morning.

As I almost never use my Samsung account, and never even configured this service, I assume one of the following:

Someone hijacked my Samsung account
Someone hijacked the Samsung system, affecting multiple user accounts
The responsible api call is lacking a permission check
Samsung itself did a test which went wrong

Does anyone know more about this?

I would assume that someone managed to abuse on of the APIs provided by Samsung sending this find my mobile notification to multiple users. For doing so you don't have to hijack a complete system. May be the API of Find my mobile API allows to specify a foreign user id instead of using your id from the login system.

the more interesting why this happen even to devices having Find My Mobile disabled, and would it be possible to erase all Samsung devices "unintentionally" same way?

Yes, it's rather distressing since I don't even have a Samsung account. At least it's not another Hawaiian missle test warning.

Samsung probably wanted to quickly refresh their internal user locations database ;)
https://twitter.com/SamsungHelpUK/status/1230430326687780865

@SamsungHelpUK
Recently, a notification about “Find My Mobile 1” occurred on a limited number of Galaxy devices. This was sent unintentionally during an internal test and there is no effect on your device. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers. ^LF

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=find+my+mobile
edit: against some news, this notification was not the result of a Samsung data breach.
https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-data-leaked-mystery-find-my-mobile-notification

Samsung has clarified that, while a data breach did happen around the same time, it's not related to the “Find my Mobile” notification. this technical error affected only Samsung's UK website and it only affected about 150 users in total.

related : https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/20/21145130/samsung-find-my-mobile-app-1-notification-galaxy

Hmm? By technical error, are they referring to the breach or the accidental notification?  Because my wife and I (both in the US) received the notification..  EDIT: from the article's comments, it looks like I wasn't the only one confused by the UK comment.

@Arctiic the notification was sent to all (newer) samsung devices. the data breach was limited to few users in samsung shop

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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What to do if Galaxy S2 firmware upgrade failed and the phone is not working at all?
I was upgrading my Galaxy S2 from Gingerbread 2.2.3 to Jelly Bean 4.1.2. In the middle of the process the USB cable just got disconnected and I only see a picture of mobile connected to a PC and a warning symbol in the center. I have tried hard-resetting it but its not working.


text:
How to disable system apps, or controll which apps launch automatically?
I've been having this problem where the Navigation app launches every 10 or so seconds.
I've heard this is because some pins are short-circuited.
I've tried to install 2 apps that should make this problem go away, but so far nothing worked.
I'm left with trying to control the lifecycle of these apps. They are system apps however, and I can't uninstall them.
Is there any possibility for me to hack my Android a little bit and disable the threads that control these apps?
I'm talking about a HTC Desire HD, 2.3.5. Android version

How can I stop applications and services from running?

How can I deal with unwanted system applications without rooting?

If you have a hardware issue I don't see how an app or setting is going to help you with that.

Does the navigation app have any advanced preferences? It's possible there's an option in there to not open up, even if it 'detects' that you have docked.

@StephenSchrauger no advanced options that i am aware of

Aside from rooting (temporarily or permanently), you can't disable the system apps prior to Android 4. Your particular case may have a ray of hope, though.
Alternate app responding to Intent
If the navigation app is responding to an Intent, you could try to find a different app that responds to the same Intent. You'd get a pop-up to choose which app to open when the pins short and the Phone thinks it has been docked.
Alternate app that can do nothing
Ideally, you could find an app that responded to that Intent and did nothing as a result. Then set that as the default handler.
Task killer
Another possible option is to use a task killer (a rare good usage of such an app). There should be some that have the option of killing an app as soon as it starts; if not, the free app Llama can do that, as can other automation apps like Tasker.
Rooting
If none of the above work, you may want to root your phone. This will let you uninstall (or simply freeze) the navigation app so that it doesn't open up.
Fix/replace hardware
The last resort, and probably most useful, is, of course, fixing/replacing the hardware.


text:
Where on my S3 can I find the punctuation button to type a "guillemets"?
I want to type the French and German style "guillemets" marks (« or ») on my mobile.  Where on my keyboard is it?
OS: 4.1.1
Galaxy S3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillemet

Apparently the stock keyboard does support it, as wbogacz's answer shows. I was not aware of this, as I never used the stock keyboard.
Evidently those aren't guillemets on the stock keyboard.
I do not believe the stock keyboard supports this.  You'll need to use an alternative keyboard to get this functionality.
Using an alternative keyboard is another way to get this functionality which is a bit easier to access.
One keyboard I know of that supports it is Hacker's Keyboard, which is the keyboard I use myself.
To type « and » on that keyboard, you do a long press on the circle button (at the bottom-right.  It acts as the compose key in this context), release it, and then type << or >> respectively
To get ‹ and ›, you do the same and type .< or .>
An exhaustive list of all the supported compose key combinations can be found here.

"To type « and » ←[how are you getting the different size ones?] on that keyboard, you do a long press on the circle button (at the bottom-right. It acts as the compose key in this context), release it, and then type << or >> ← [this set looks bigger] respectively"

@verve - The former are the actual guillemet characters, whereas the latter are just a pair of greater-than/less-than signs.  You type the latter in combination with the compose key to get the former.

Do you know of any other keyboards?  I find the Hacker's one confusing!  :-(

@verve - GAThrawn reports that the stock Android keyboard, available on the Play store, supports guillemets and access them via the method in Al Everett's answer

What "circle button" are you referring to? I only find a "dot in a circle" button, long pressing which opens the Change keyboard dialog. The «» can be input by long-pressing any of the " or < buttons though.

On my Galaxy S3, running 4.1.2, the stock keyboard has these characters. (I seem to be mistaken - see comments below.) When you bring up the numeric keyboard (from the 123 Sym button bottom-left), you will, above this same button, find what appears to be a one-third, which is not a fraction, but the indicator that you are on the first of three symbol keyboards. Click until you are on 2/3, and find your characters just above the space key.An image of the specific keyboard(s) may be seen below:

(source: recombu.com)

Do you mean these: 《》 ?

Those look really large when I use them in sentences.

Those appear to be "Mathematical [left/right] double angle bracket"s (Unicode U+27EA and U+27EB), not guillemets.

Fair enough. Didn't really know there were other sets of characters so close in composure.

This may or may not be helpful, depending on how much Samsung has changed the keyboard, but I can get the guillemets this way:

Press ?123 to get to the number/punctuation keyboard
Long-press the " key to get a popup with non-English quotation marks: „“”«»

This doesn't appear to work in the Samsung keyboard on 4.1.2 on a Galaxy S3.  Long pressing on the quotation mark key just displays the quotation mark and nothing else.

Those extended quotationmarks are definitely available on the unmodified Google Keyboard recently released on the Play Store.

Well, as I said, I can't speak to whatever modifications Samsung may have done.


text:
Downgrade Galaxy S Duos from ICS to Gingerbread
I want to downgrade my Galaxy S Duos from ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) 4.0 to Gingerbread. How do I do this?

Galaxy S Duos was released with the ICS onboard and there is no Gingerbread available for this model. You shouldn't use a firmware designed for other devices from the Galaxy family - this is an easy way to brick you phone.
"Getting Prepared" instruction is irrelevant.

Welcome to StackExchange and thanks for your contribution. For a free badge, read this link (http://android.stackexchange.com/about).

Getting Prepared
The firmware downgrade drill for the Samsung Galaxy devices is not much complicated as compared to the phones manufactured by other brands. It requires you to boot the device first into Download/Odin Mode, and then into Android Recovery Mode. I hope many of you would be acquainted with both the methods. Even if you are not, it doesn’t matter.

Download the downgrade firmware for your Samsung Galaxy device and extract it on your computer. A good source to download Samsung firmwares is Samsung-Updates. Type your device name in the search box at the sidebar, you would find it hopefully. If you do not get it, let me know (your device and country). To find out the correct firmware you can Use CSC Codes.
Download and install Samsung USB Drivers on your computer. Skip this step if you already have it.
Download Odin Firmware flasher and unzip it (if you get any error with Odin3 1.85, try the greater version): Odin3_v1.85.Zip   or   Odin3_v3.04.Zip
Since the downgrading procedure will delete all data stored on the internal SD Card of your Galaxy device it will be better to backup your messages, contacts and installed apps.
Charge your device’s battery to the full
Make sure that you have turned on USB Debugging from Settings => Developer Options.

Installing the Downgrade Firmware
Installing a firmware version that is lower than the current one is just the same as installing a higher one, but you have to one more thing that you do not usually do. I assume that you have already done as described above, so let’s go ahead.

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy device whether it a phone or tablet and boot into Download/Odin Mode. If it is a phone, you can enter the Download Mode doing this: Press and hold the Volume Down+Home buttons together and then long press the Power Button till the screen turns up. Now press the Volume Up key to enter the Download Mode. In case you have a Galaxy Tab device, do this: Press and hold the Volume Up+Power buttons together, and then press the Volume Up key when prompted.
Now go to the Odin folder and run the .exe file there.
This is the time, you have to connect you device to the computer using a compatible USB cable.
When the connection between the device and computer is established, the ID:COM port at Odin will turn to Yellow or light Blue (depending on the Odin version you are using) and you’ll see Added!! text in the message box below.
Make sure that only F. Reset Time option is checked on Odin. The Auto Reboot option is checked by default, so please uncheck it.
Okay, now click on the PDA button on Odin and select the firmware file in tar.md5 format.
Now click the Start button on Odin. This will initiate the firmware installation. Wait till it finishes.
Finally when you get a PASS!! message on Odin, remove the USB Cable from your device.
Now open the back panel of your device and pull out the battery. Wait for about 60 seconds and reinsert the battery back to its place.
Now reboot your phone into Android Recovery mode. If you have a smartphone, you can do it this way: press and hold the Volume Up+Home buttons together and then hold the Power button till the screen turns up and the Samsung logo blinks for two times. Release the Power button but keep the other two keys pressed till you see a black screen with green Android bot and Blue text. In case you got  a  Galaxy Tab or Note 10.1, press and hold the Volume Down+Power keys together for a few seconds till you see the yellow triangle with Android bot followed by a black screen with blue text.
In the Recovery mode you will have to use the Volume Up/Volume Down keys to scroll up or down, and the Power button to select an option.
So, scroll down to wipe data/factory reset option and select yes to confirm your choice.
Now go to wipe cache partition and confirm the choice.
Finally, go to the reboot system now option and select it.

Your device will boot now and it might take a longer time than it does usually. When it completely boots up, it should be on the downgraded firmware you installed. Cheers!

Please do this at your own risk. More details on this method can be found here.


text:
Android Facebook Version 3.4 - Sort News Feed
My Samsung Galaxy S 3 just updated to Android Facebook Version 3.4.
I cannot figure out how to sort News Feed by most recent?

Tap the "hamburger" menu in the upper left. (Looks like three short horizontal lines.) That opens a menu.

Next to "News Feed" is a gear icon. Tap that.

Your two choices are "Top Stories" and "Most Recent". A checkmark will indicate the current setting. Tap the one you want.

The new version 4.3 doesnt have that icon any more

@MattBlymire You mean 3.4? And it does for me... What do you see?

@Matt: Which icon? I double-checked that my version of the Facebook app is 3.4. Perhaps you should add to your question exactly what device and version of the app you have.

Sorry, 3.4 is correct.  I have Samsung Glaxy S3.

Along the bottom is now 4 buttons: News Feed, Message, Notifications and Book Marks

Ummmm...what? That makes no sense. Note, also, that comments are impermanent. You should [edit] your question to include important information or clarifications.

A screen shot, in this case, would be useful.

It seems facebook is testing a new UI, but it's not rolled out to all users yet. I've not found any way to sort the news feed yet (i don't have the new UI).


text:
Adding a self-signed certificate to the trusted list?
I have my own self-signed SSL certificate for a website I need to keep relatively secure. I've been able to install my client SSL certificate just fine, but I can't seem to install the server's certificate to the Android trusted list, so I always get a warning when trying to access my site in Chrome from the device.
How do I install a PEM or CRT file for a self-signed server certificate?

Have a look at my answer to this question.

Related: How do you import CA certificates onto an Android phone? / self-signed certificate install claims success, but android acts as if cert isn't there


text:
Where does Google MyTracks store recorded files?
I am not 100% sure of this but I seem to remember that in previous versions of MyTracks the recorded files were stored at /mnt/sdcard/MyTracks. But this does not seem to be the case any more. By previous I mean version prior to at least version 2.0.4 which is what I currently have.
I have recorded several tracks but can't find the files at /mnt/sdcard/MyTracks. In fact there is no such folder name on that location. So where does it store recorded files now? I need the GPX files.
I tried searching for "mytrack" and also "mytracks" (case insensitive) in File Expert app at /mnt/sdcard but it found no folders. It did find some files.
com.google.android.maps.mytracks
/mnt/sdcard/android/data/com.google.android.maps.mytracks

cache_vts_com.google.android.maps.mytracks.0
/mnt/sdcard/android/data/com.google.android.maps.mytracks/cache/

And additional 4 files in the same location. But I can't see any GPX files in here. Attempting to search at root causes File Expert process to crash.

@AlEverett Thanks! I was going to create a new tag by the name "google-mytracks" but my reputation score was not enough. So I had to use the generic "google" tag. Thanks for the edit! I have made a wiki for this new tag.

I'm still not sure where actual MyTracks data is stored. I think it's stored somewhere in the internal memory, not in the external memory. But I have found a way to export the GPX data.

Start MyTracks.
Press Menu button.
Tap "Save all to external storage".
Tap "Save as GPX".

Saved x tracks to /mnt/sdcard/MyTracks/gpx.

At least some of the data for Google MyTracks is stored at /data/data/com.google.android.maps.mytracks. But to view /data/data you need to enable the root explorer in the phone and you need root access.
To enable root explorer in File Expert:

Start File Expert.
Press Menu button.
Tap More.
Tap Settings.
Tap File Explorer Settings.
Check Root Explorer option.

For this to work you need root access on the phone, i.e. the phone needs to be rooted. Also, sometimes you will need to mount the file system as writable, and you can do this too within the app settings.
(I tried the same thing with ES File Explorer but I was unable to even view the root folder / with it, it was only able to view /sdcard. So therefore I recommend using File Explorer instead.)

Here's a Google Support article on the subject: https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/2391540?hl=en&ref_topic=2391064

I think track data is stored in mytracks.db rather than in any type of GPS file. This database is located at the below path. (root required to pull it out)

/data/data/com.google.android.maps.mytracks/databases/mytracks.db (and
  its -journal file)

You can view it by a SQLite tool such like SQLite Expert, and find detailed data of each track.
Recently, the touch panel of my mobile device was broken during recording. That's why I'm here...
In conclusion I have copied the database simply to the other device, and then all tracks were recovered including the unfinished track.
Steps:

Install MyTracks on the new device.
Pull mytracks.db and mytracks.db-journal from the old device.
Put mytracks.db and mytracks.db-journal into the new device,
overwrite the original files.
Launch MyTracks on the new device. All tracks are recovered.

Finally, if you'd like to get GPX files, export them manually as your own answer mentioned. It might be the only way I know.

I think root requirement can be circumvented if you take adb backup of that app and extract it to retrieve the relevant .db file.

On my Galaxy S4 running My Tacks 2.0.10 the pictures taken with the app end up in this directory in the camera's memory (not the SD Card):
MyTracks\pictures

There are subdirectories created for each track that I've taken pictures on. They are named MyTracks123, MyTracks134, etc.
The full path of the main directory appears to be:
/storage/emulated/0/MyTracks/pictures

These pictures are automatically synced to my other devices where I have My Tracks installed. This means I'll have to stop taking pictures on a track from within My Tracks. I also don't like that I can't tell My Tracks to put the pictures on the SD Card. Oh well, easy enough to just take the pictures outside of My Tracks.
I also do not see the pictures being synced up to the My Tracks directory on my Google Drive. Just the .kmz files seem to be synced there.


text:
Automatically un-mount SDCard safely when device is rebooted or turned off?
How can I configure my Galaxy S II so every time my device is either rebooted or turned off the SDCard is safely un-mounted because at the moment if I don't un-mount it, the files on SDCard appear as duplicated for some reason.
My device is rooted with Ressurction Remix 2.6.1 with Siyah Kernel 3.2.7.2.

If you shut-down your device (i.e. either switch it of or reboot it), the system takes care for that -- except, of course, if you shut-down by taking out the battery.

If files are being doubled, why are you asking about safe unmounting? Problems caused by no safe unmounting are file system corruption, data loss etc. Files aren't doubled by it.
I haven't heard of such type of problem before. Its possible that an app or a shell script is doubling files at the time of boot. To pin-point the problem, turn off the device, remove the sdcard and check with PC that files are doubled or not. If files are doubled, it means something is doing this at time of shut down. Do this: Turn off device by pulling out battery and then boot. Tell me the result.

Pulling the battery out of an Android phone while it's on is not advisable

Its a troubleshooting step which isn't advisable during normal situations...

The Android OS is supposed to do this automatically for you unless the device is powered down or rebooted incorrectly (eg. removing the battery). Ive never heard of files being doubled on an SD card after rebooting before. I would suggest trying a different ROM since your phone is rooted.


text:
My Mac doesn't recognize my Galaxy S2 through USB
My Snow Leopard Mac doesn't recognize my Samsung Galaxy S2 for file transfer over USB, and it's starting to drive me nuts.
I've tried the following:
Connect Storage to PC
Settings > Wireless and Networks > USB Utilities > Connect Storage to PC
I've tried this several times on my phone, following the procedure stating that I should only connect after the phone asks me to, but it does not work.
There is no "attach-button" in the pull down menu, like some claim there should be. Yet it seems that the phone notices that the USB-cable is connected. However OS X does not. No external storage pops up in Finder. I've also tried waiting for several minutes as I know this sometimes can take a while, but to no avail.
USB Debugging
Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging
When set to on, nothing happens. When set to off, nothing happens either. (It is automatically shut off when using Connect Storage to PC.)
Android File Transfer
I've also downloaded Android File Transfer, and while the phone finally recognized something by stating MTP-Connected in the pull-down menu, nothing happens in OS X, nor the Android File Transfer program itself. It just continues to demand that I attach the USB cable.
I've also tried it in conjunction with both USB Debugging on and off, to no avail. When it's on, the phone doesn't detect any MTP. When it's off, the phone detects MTP. Either way, it seems that OS X doesn't detect jack...
USB Prober
The USB Prober on my Mac does detect something when I connect the USB to my phone, but I do not understand the message after the timestamp, that is: [1] AppleUSBOHCI[0x56f9800]::SuspendUSBBus Processing WDH before suspending.
USB Cable
I've tried with two different brand new cables. Made no difference.

Please do not post answers suggesting the use of Kies, Bluetooth, Wireless, and the like. I want my phone to work over USB for a reason (speed and convenience).

It sounds like a driver issue. I'm a Windows user, but I would first look for the specific device drivers for your phone. You may still have to install Kies just for the drivers: http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/model/GT-I9100LKAXEU-downloads Additionally, you can try installing pda.net which has drivers for most Android devices bundled (you can uninstall the app after you get the drivers from it): http://junefabrics.com/android/download.php Not posting as an answer because I'm not sure how applicable this is to a Mac

I don't think pda.net will really help on a Mac. The issue is that it doesn't support MTP natively, which drivers aren't really relevant for. Unfortunately, even Google's support page recommends using Android File Transfer, so if that's not working then options may be limited.

tested on mac osx snow leopard and Mountain Lion:
with your device unplugged go to settings->developer options disable usb debugging;
Go to Settings, in wireless and network section, go to "more"->usb utilities Tap on "Connect storage to PC". Plug in your device to your mac and the tap on "Turn on USB storage" and OK. You should see your device just like an USB pen.

Thank you! This didn't work before. Must be an update.

Aaaand suddenly it doesn't work anymore. It only worked that one time it seems. STRANGE!


text:
Rooting the HTC Desire Z
Just received one of these (SIM Free, UK Version, Android 2.3 with Sense UI).
Can anybody point me towards the simplest and most easiest way to root this handset?

Question: Was the Desire Z really delivered with 2.3 already? Because I have one as well and it is still using 2.2.1 saying that this is the latest version.

A quick Google search returns these two methods.
I would recommend the manual method.  It's more complicated, but gives you a "better" root ( S-Off, SIM-unlock, SuperCID).

Visionary has been known to brick phones. It worked only on earlier versions of Froyo.

Please do not use the Visionary method. You may brick your phones.
If you are currently on Gingerbread then use this Guide by Setherio to downgrade to Froyo after which the phone can be rooted. You may also use the PDF available in the above link to do the same along with rooting your device.
If you already happen to be on Froyo with software version 1.3x then you can use the PDF to root your phone.

Note that "above" has no context here, since answers can be sorted in a number of different ways.

@AlEverett I've edited the reference to another answer.


text:
Is z4Root infected?
I downloaded One Click Lag Fix and it requested z4Root, I also downloaded from the computer, because it was not on the market and installed, but AVG reported me that is infected.
I downloaded with multiple sites including xda-developers, and all were infected.
Should I proceed with installation?

Does AVG provide any informations?

OCLF has nothing to do with z4root.  Can you be more clear about what exactly you're doing and what exactly is being flagged?

My phone isn't rooted and I can't do lag fix without rooting phone! OCLF asks me to install z4root from market but did't find it there. I downloaded it from xda-developers.com and installed but OCLF insists to download from the market and does't recognized z4root that I downloaded from computer and installed. I installed again z4root and AVG is marked as a threat but it doesn't showed no further information. I have a Samsung Galaxy Y android version 2.3.6 Gingerbread.

Can I do lag fix? This is the picture which shows what happens when I turn on the application http://www.mobile-dev.co.za/screens/oclfscreen1.png

z4root is in fact infected.
It is infected with an often used root exploit for Android 2.2 Froyo which allows you (or any malicious app) to gain root rights by executing it on a vulnerable phone. z4root is neutral if you have the original benign one however: It's only used to gain root. It does nothing else on its own.
AVG (and other antivirus vendors) flag this because it is a root exploit. They don't care if you like it or not and if you want to use it in a benign way (to install lag fix). It bypasses Android's security by exploiting a known vulnerability and this is enough to label it as infected.
To give an example:
Let's assume some app piggypacks this exploit to gain root to be able to start wreaking havoc on your phone (or with your data by formatting/wiping it. whatever).

Antivirus applications use special algorithms to scan, take apart and analyze files on your computer and network. If they are certain chunks in the files that it finds suspicious, then it gets flagged as malware.
Now, certain applications like one click root applications use hacks similar to the ones that some malware do. This causes the antiviruses to wrongly flag such software.
Most likely, z4root isnt infected but you can always use a secondary anti virus app to check or go on the xda forum thread and look for comments on infected files.


text:
Android Engineering Mode
Is there a way to change between User and Eng mode on android devices? More specificity the Motorola Defy (2.2.2) and the Acer Iconia A500 (4.0.3) I need access to tools like dev tools. I dont mind if I have to root the DEFY.

What precise capabilities do you need?

Developers Tools etc

Network analysis as well

Android is designed so that development can be done on a secured device.  Build an apk set to be debuggable and you can use run-as to get a shell running as the apk userid.

Are you referring to developer tools for Dalvik application, NDK application, or for modifying the OS itself?

there are several network analysis tools on the Play market, such as Shark (based on Wireshark on desktop), they do need root access.

I have root access so thats no problem. I just need monitoring software for the network, I wanted to use the one with ADT but I guess that's not happening. Thanks.

This answer may help you out for determining what's different between the modes: http://stackoverflow.com/a/14767336/198348

No you cannot, that is done at build/compile of the source of the said Android version whatever that may be.
When the source gets compiled via
. build/envsetup.sh

This is setting up the environment, and that reads in the potential devices via BoardConfig.mk within each device/product directory.
Its when lunch gets executed, the menu shows like this
$ lunch

You're building on Linux

Lunch menu... pick a combo:
     1. full-eng
     2. full_x86-eng
     3. simulator
     4. zte_blade-eng
     5. zte_blade-userdebug

Which would you like? [full-eng]

The above is the example of building the ROM for the Zte Blade, notice how userdebug and eng is prefixed!

While this is how it is set, it's not necessarily fully fixed to that setting.  Changing some of the ro. system properties in the built image - or even setting ones that haven't been set yet on a running device - can substantially alter the behavior of the system.  The results may not however be stable.

So there possibly is a way to change this?

Yes, if you can write to arbitrary flash partitions.  But you don't necessarily need to change the "mode" of the system, it may be enough to alter the specific things keyed to that which you want, for example install some tool for obtaining a root shell.


text:
Which CM9 ROM for sony ericsson x10i?
I was about to download a CM ROM file for my phone, here
Now when I use that (first) uploaded link, it showed me a folder, in which there are a bunch of different versions, such as

anzu
aoba
mango
etc

and many more.
How do I determine which would be the correct version for me?
My Phone is a Sony Ericsson Xperia x10i, if that is of interest.
I hope this was not asked before, I was searching around for a while.
Thanks for any help!

Not sure why the vote(s) to Close. "How do I determine which would be the correct version" is a valid question.

I do not think there's any support for the x10 from CM for the v9 release.
For reference:

Xperia Arc => anzu
Xperia Neo => hallon
Xperia Pro => iyokan
Xperia Mini Pro => mango
Xperia Ray => urushi
Xperia Mini => smultron
Xperia Arc S => ayame
Xperia Neo V => haida
Xperia Active => satsuma
Live with Walkman => coconut
Xperia Neo L => phoenix

Edit:
CyanogenMod is a ROM that targets a lot of handsets. A souped up/bloated version of the Stock Vanilla AOSP Android (the ones found on the Nexus series handsets)
The FreeXperia project was founded by jerpelea who (unofficially works for Sony, gets freebies and contributes to porting CM for that handset etc). Also, FreeXperia project is officially merged into the CyanogenMod tree. Not all legacy devices are supported using the CM ROM, especially for the newer v9 and v10 (ICS and JB respectively.
If visiting this Get CM you will actually find that CM is not supporting the legacy devices!
Have not tried FreeXperia, but have heard it is not 100% stable, as some things are broken on it (If anyone wants to correct me, feel free to say so in the comments) :)

thanks for your answer... on this page https://sites.google.com/site/projectfreexperia/home/device-details/x10-i-a---es209ra it says something about CyanogenMod9 though... do you have any idea what that means? thanks again!

@Chips_100 see my edit :)

thanks for your effort, very informative answer! you definitely helped me out here!

@t0mm13b you really don't like CM huh? It's not a bad thing that the individual maintainers for CM get free devices from the manufacturers. If they didn't the community would probably have a lot smaller range of custom ROMs for these devices.

@RyanConrad Its not a bad thing to get freebies alright and I agree yes, but now, the CM founder works for samsung, and there is samsung "orientated-ness" for want of better word for it... samsung devices gets the cm updates quicker than other devices... just saying... it is over-bloated the ROM itself, stock vanilla AOSP <3 ... :D (see that heart symbol there :P) LOL!

@t0mm13b Samsung, right now, just makes some of the best devices, and the highest selling devices. It's smart to target the "top" devices first. But I don't want to get an off-topic discussion going in the comments, i was just curious. :)

@RyanConrad no worries at all there mate :)

i am running CM10 now on my xperia x10i for about a month now, and i am totally happy with it.
the only thing I noticed (and it is stated on the homepage of cm), is that the hotspot function is not working anymore.
but besides that, its a huge improvement to the official android fw of the x10i!

This is not version of CM - it's CM code name of device. Depending on your device you should download needed release.

Not a CM code name really, it originates from Sony who labels the kernels for each SEMC chipset! :)

thanks, nice list! that helped me to get to this site...  http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=es209ra&type= though the downloads are both 404s. was my phone 'dropped' by the developers??

@Chips_100 read this tutorial.


text:
Lock screen when proximity sensor is covered
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with Jelly Bean. I would like, for, my screen to lock if proximity sensor is covered (for instance, when it is in my pocket).
How can I do that?
I am searching for an app as I have not found anything within the standard menu.

Does the proximity sensor (assuming NFC) work on pockets? I thought it only worked with other NFC capable objects.

Have a look at Smart Cover, Cover Lock, Simple Cover Lock [Beta] and others on Google Play. You can probably find other apps that maybe are better for you by just looking at the 'similar' apps section on Google Play.

Simple Cover Lock [Beta] does the job. And it's free.


text:
IS it OK to flash stock ROM from other country?
Is it OK if I flash my phone with a stock ROM from another country? Wouldn't it have a negative effect?

Yes, it's OK to flash stock ROM from another country. BUT, take note that it may have different languages, and a different baseband/modem. Having a different baseband can cause network issues (or a very hot phone), but you can flash a baseband that works for your country.

You can also flash the baseband separately from the ROM.


text:
Need custom recovery that supports Kit Kat for Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7"
I really want to flash CyanogenMod 11 on my tablet. I have the file in CM Updater, but I can't find a custom recovery that will support KitKat for my device.

You should be able to use the latest CWM or TWRP custom recovery with your device.
Source: Install Android 4.4 KitKat on Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Using CM11 Custom Build
UPDATE #1: XDA has a thread for custom recoveries for the P3110. It says that only CWM supports KitKat for that tablet.

No there is no official recovery for my tablet the supports kit kat it says error status 7

@user51878 I'm not sure I understand you. You're supposed to flash a custom recovery (CWM / TWRP), not a stock (which I assume you meant by official) recovery. Go to the TWRP site, and download the recovery there for your phone, and flash it. I assume your phone is rooted; is it?

Yes my phone is rooted in on cm 10.1 and I have Cwm and access to Twrp. BUT the newest version on the custom recovery site is still outdated and won't support cm 11. So I need any recovery that will in order to flash kit kat cm 11

@user51878 See my UPDATE#1 in the answer


text:
Is removing an app any different from disabling an app?
One of the main advantage of rooting is removing bloatware [I guess]. Is removing unwanted brand-based or operator-based app any different from disabling it from All Application in Settings? I don't find any improvement in memory too since these apps were pre-loaded in OS and you can't use those space any way.

As it has already been said: the main difference is that disabling an app simply marks it unavailable (which can easily be reverted), while removing physically removes the app and all connected data from the device.
What was still left open is: What do you gain from removing an app, that you didn't get by disabling it – so it would be worth the risk of not being easily reverted?

Space: You're probably talking about system apps here. Those are usually installed on the /system partition, which is mounted read-only, and cannot be used by "normal (user) applications". So removing the app itself doesn't give you space to "simply install other apps". But still:

Almost all apps have data, which is stored in /data/data/<app_package_name>1. While pressing "clear cache" and "delete data" from Settings→Apps resets those, it doesn't completely delete everything. Removing the app does. So you gain at least some space here.
All apps are being "optimized", which results in Dalvik/ART cache data residing on the user partition (inside /data/dalvik-cache). If you delete an app, this cache is removed – if you disable it, it remains (see the comment of Death Mask Salesman below).

Performance & battery: If you disable an app, it becomes invisible to the user – but the files are still there. Also, the package manager still knows it exists. Plus the app's "intents" are still available: if another apps directly calls them, the disabled app still responds to the call. It also seems to listen to some broadcasts it previously had registered listeners on (example: my LG Optimus 4X has those bloated LG stuff I've disabled. Nevertheless, after each boot I receive prompts from their "remote service" app to approve).
That means, a disabled app can still be running in background, if called from some other place – and consume battery plus CPU, even bandwidth and other resources. A removed app obviously can't.

1 Some apps also store (usually "huger chunks" of) data on SDCard, but almost all apps have at least their central data below /data/data.

is /data/data space usable?

Yes. As I wrote, that's the partition available to all apps. Each app gets a directory assigned there on install (/data/data/<package_name>), where they can store their data in. For details, see Android Folder Hierarchy and Where Android apps store data?. Also, .apk files are installed on this partition, see Where in the file system are applications installed?

@Izzy Since we found it out, you could edit your answer to mention that uninstalling a system app nets you usable space which was previously occupied by its Dalvik/ART cache. In turn, the cache keeps hogging space if the app is merely disabled.

@DeathMaskSalesman and what happens with Dalvik/ART cache when you disable an app? Are you sure it is kept? I've never checked.

@Izzy I keep the default LineageOS gallery, Gallery2, disabled. I could ascertain the existence of /data/dalvik-cache/arm/system@priv-app@Gallery2@Gallery2.apk@classes dex and /data/dalvik-cache/arm/system@priv-app@Gallery2@Gallery2.apk@classes.art via both a file manager and SD Maid. Of the two, the first file weighs 3.8MB, the other totals 32.0kB.

Thanks @DeathMaskSalesman – integrated that with the answer!

You answered your own question really:

Is removing unwanted brand based or operator based app any
  difference than disabling these app from All Application in Settings?

To which you wrote:

I don't find any improvement in memory too since these apps were
  preloaded in OS and you cant use those space any way.

Disabling an app merely "hides" the app from your app lists and prevents it running in the background. But it still consumes space in the phones memory. Whereas, removing an app deletes all traces of the app from your phone and frees all up related space.

freeing related space, but these space cannot be used by the user rite?

It can be. If an app is deleted and the space is freed up the user can use it, which is not the case when you disable the app(the space is still consumed).

The os were loaded in the phone memory which cannot be used I think so.Correct me If I am wrong

^^ You're not deleting the OS. If flashing a Custom ROM frees up space(say the new ROM uses 200MB of space instead of 300MB by original ROM, you can use the additional 100MB freed up).

I dont think so, Since the phone memory listed in the Setting>App is not connected to the memory in which the android os is installed atleast I never found a difference in phone memory when installed a 500 mb custom rom and 300 mb custom rom.

In either case (removing or disabling), the app won't be running in memory. If it was a service that kept running, like Samsung's apps, you'd have lesser apps using the CPU, and that may improve battery life.
If you remove / uninstall an app, you are definitely going to free up some memory/storage. But if the app is very small to begin with, the freed up storage is probably going to be negligible.
If you disable an app, you have an advantage of being able to enable it when you need it. There's no need to download and install it again.

Another difference that I've not seen mentioned here is that removing the app might cause problems with firmware updates, so I'd suggest clearing app defaults, force stopping, clearing data and then disabling app unless absolutely necessary or your phone is no longer receiving updates anyway


text:
How can I add a video camera shortcut to the home screen?
My Pixel 3 (standard size--why no tag?) had both camera and video shortcuts on the home screen. I must've pocked-edited it, because the video camera one is gone. I can't figure out how to add it back. There's no dedicated video camera app.
Thanks much.

You may be able to recreate the shortcut using this app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sika524.android.quickshortcut&hl=en_IN&gl=US

Long press on the default camera icon from the home screen and there should be popup menu with "Take a video"

Press and hold on "Take a video" from the popup menu to create a "Take a Video" shortcut which you can drag and place on your home screen.

Thanks, but that's one of the first things I tried. It's not like that anymore. I get 'Pause app' and 'App info' in Android 11.

Strange. I'm running a Pixel 2, Android 10 OS, Pixel Launcher version 10, Camera version 7.4.201.322479879. I don't see any options in Pixel Launcher settings that would block the behavior. A suggestion would be to try Nova Launcher but as I'm reading through the Google Play feedback, I see some similar reports and noticed: https://9to5google.com/2020/01/01/pixel-launcher-icons-disappear/.


text:
Dropped calls and people not hearing me
Samsung S3 dropping calls and people not hearing me on made or received calls. Happened after latest upgrade.

Are you sure that it's not a carrier problem?

Closely related: People can't hear me on my Samsung Galaxy S3

Duplicate (with no answer): When I send or receive a call, the person on the other side can't hear me

You might have abandoned this question, but could you remember which update? "latest update" doesn't really help at this exact time.


text:
Is there a way to send an emergency text and/or email by holding down either of the volume buttons?
A friend of mine recently developed a medical condition that causes sudden shortness of breath, and in one instance, caused her to pass out. In that instance, she said she lost her vision first, so she couldn't make a phone call to anyone.
I found some apps that send emergency messages by pressing a button in the lock screen, but it may be hard to do so without being able to see (though certainly better than trying to punch in a phone number). I was wondering if there was a way to send messages by holding down a physical button for, say, 5 seconds. (Of course, the contacts/message would be preconfigured/preset.) I'm not sure if it's even possible for an app to "hijack" a button's functionality in such a way.

tl;dr: I wasn't aware of any such apps and so I've actually written an application that can do this for a university project; the user holds the volume down button for x seconds (default is 3) and a preconfigured emergency message is sent to their chosen contact(s). There are a few problems with getting this functionality however (see below). I haven't made the app available anywhere but could put a version up on the Play Store over the next few days. Will edit this when I do.

The problem I found is that it doesn't work in all possible states the phone could be in, meaning your friend might be trying to use it but will forget to put it in a correct state if they're in a panic. Here's the results of the testing I did, a pass means the emergency SMS was sent:

One test wasn’t applicable because if the screen is off pressing the
  volume button will turn it back on giving us the first test state.
For the state where the screen was on but phone was locked, the evidence
  gathering could be activated but only by pressing the volume button
  repeatedly for the required amount of time.
The reason the activation doesn’t work as intended is because Android
  only receives one button press when the volume button is held while the
  screen is locked and so only passes one press to the application. If the volume button is repeatedly pressed then
  the application is ‘tricked’ into thinking the button is being held
  constantly because the app checks if the button is being held once a
  second but the button only needs to have been held once in the last
  second for it to count.

A positive point about the volume button method is that it uses almost no battery, there isn't any monitoring or polling of the volume button's state.

If you were willing to consider other activation methods I also added the ability to tilt the phone and have it activate the emergency SMS, I found this worked in a lot more states:

I believe it would also be possible to get the Tasker application to do this tilting activation but I don't own it and haven't tried it.

Thanks! I'd be happy to test all your listed scenarios on the phones I have available to me: HTC Thunderbolt, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, and my friend's phone; and send you the results. Let me know if you'd like to send me an APK or other installation files/instructions. Though, the tilt mode sounds like it could register many false positives (what if the phone's tilted in her pocket or her bag?) Maybe I don't fully understand how it works yet.

@acheong87 The tilt mode would be, for example, tilting at least 30 degrees down, up, down and up again in under 3 seconds for it to activate, I got a v.low false positive rate. Like I said I'll upload it to the Play Store, I've never done that before and want to try. It will take at least a few days because I'll have to rewrite bits of it, it was designed for domestic violence victims & had to run discretely on the phone, obviously there's no such requirement here. It also does things like monitor location and send it in the text when activated. Fuller description here: http://redd.it/1eu81e

@acheong87 Just to note I haven't forgotten about this, just getting the app ready is taking much longer than I thought it would!

Thanks for the update! No worries. If you make it you make it, and if not, that's okay too. I was just saying I'd be happy to help test it if you get around to it one day. Good luck.

@Peanut I just came across your post. My brother has ALS and I am looking for ways to easily have him send emergency text messages. I kno this post was years ago, but is the app available for testing? Thanks!

@josh From the research I did for my app I believe there were already 2 good apps available that could send emergency texts, one was called Circle of 6 and I can't recall the other but can check when I'm back home next week. If neither of them suits you I'll be happy to give you the apo I wrote

Not specifically with the volume buttons, but if you are open for alternatives, Tasker might be able to help out. To fire the emergency task, the following triggers might be feasible:

Camera button
Long-Search button
Gesture (The phone has just been waved around in a particular way)
Shake (The device is being physically shaken)

If the device has no camera button, the long-search button being hard to find without vision, this might leave us with the "gesture" and "shake" triggers. To set that up, you can record your "emergency pattern", e.g. "shake twice left-right, then twice up-down".
As task, Tasker offers e.g. "Send SMS" (Send an SMS without user interaction.) So combining action and task, you'd have your "emergency profile": As soon as the shake-pattern is recognized, the emergency SMS would be sent.


text:
Location woes on HTC
If the NSA tracks me via my HTC phone, they must think I am strange... My location never updated. Ever. I tried removing the cache from News and Weather.  Tried using GPS.  Tried using WiFi.  Nothing seems to work.
Is there a canonical way to re-set the location in Android?
Note: Phone is HTC Sensation XL. I have factory re-set it several time, no change: the first location Weather picks stays as the current one whatever I do.  Applications are any weather apps whatsoever. I installed several and none updated their location correctly.

Eliminate software issues by reinstalling/factory reseting your device. If this does not work, return the device as hardware fault is very likely.

What's your phone model ? What "location" are you talking about ? Is is that you can't get your location for any application ? Or is it a specific application ?

Does Google Maps show the correct location? Does it show the correct approximate location when GPS is turned off?

@DanHulme: Yes, it does whether I use GPS or not.  Clearly, with GPS it is more accurate. ^_~


text:
Connecting to COM serial port through USB with Putty
I am trying to use my android phone connected to my PC as an SMS gateway by executing AT commands.
I have attached the phone to the PC (Windows 7), and device manager shows that it is in COM4 port. I opened PUTTY in administrator mode and tried connecting to COM4 but it just shows a black screen with the green cursor but won't let me type anything.
I tried playing around with the values of "Local Echo" and "Local Line Editing" as I found in one of the suggestions in another question here, but the best I can get (set both to "Force On"), I can type stuff on Putty but it doesn't really do anything.
Any suggestions?

How exactly have you connected your phone to your PC? Most phones don't have a user-accessible serial port.

@DanHulme I am using a regular USB connection. From what I've read online, this would create a virtual com port connection which it did as I checked from device manager. I'm trying out with putty if I can send messages using AT commands as I'm planning to build an application that will send SMS using the android phone as an SMS gateway.

You can't use the USB connection like a serial connection to a modem. That's just not how it works. You can probably find an app that acts as a server through Wi-Fi to send SMS messages, but I don't think you'll find anything that accepts AT commands.

@DanHulme I thought I read somewhere that can be done. I think the app is a better approach. Will this app be something like this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.apksoft.android.smsgateway&hl=en

You can only do that on phones or 3g devices that are recognized as modems by the os.
I had one Nokia communicator that I used for that and controlled this using at commands.
 Also I had a Sony laptop with a 3g card that could be controlled with at commands and inclusive enable the hidden gps :)
That Sony still sends his coordinates to my Web server so I know where he has been :) if stolen :)
You need to check if your hardware is compatible and the OS has the correct driver implementation.


text:
Phone forgets selected input methods?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S+ with Cyanogenmod 10.1 (built 2013-04-15) (Kernel 3.0.73-rc1-PhenomKernel-V3).
I have turned off Google voice input in the keyboard settings because I never use it and rather have the , key there than voice input.
Anyways, it keeps turning itself back on (I believe when the keyboard is killed for memory) and I have to go to the settings again to turn it off.
How can I tell it to stay turned off? Can I possibly uninstall it?


text:
Reset only the settings for HTC One
I have an HTC One (4.2.2) & I need to reset my settings ONLY, just the settings.
Is there any way not to lose my data, without making a backup?
I mean I want a factory settings for the settings only.
Thanks.

You could go to Settings->Apps, switch to the "All" tab, and walk the apps you want to reset the settings. Apart from that, there's only the factory reset AFAIK.

Goto Settings-->Apps-->All-->(you can find Settings App)click on Settings--> Clear data and cache


text:
How to tell the Play Store to list apps in different languages?
Apparently the search in the Play Store only returns results of apps that belong in some way to the locale my phone is set to.
For example, there is an app from a German bus company with their schedule. If I type the exact name of the app into the search field it doesn't show this this app in the results because my phone is set to English.
The only way to find it is in the browser Google Play website when I am not logged into my Google account.
Is there a way to circumvent this and let Google Play present all the apps with this name?


text:
Why is portable hotspot and tethering not working?
I am trying to use tethering features to connect my laptop to the Internet. On my Samsung Galaxy S3-i9300 device when I enable a portable wi-fi hotspot and connect wirelessly I can connect from my Windows 7 device but not browse the Internet from my laptop.
If instead I use USB-tethering I can browse the Internet from my laptop but sometimes the connection falls and I need to reboot my computer to get the laptop to realize the connection to the Internet is lost. The connection falls for instance when I receive a text message on the phone used for tethering.
Anyone experience these problems and have any solutions?

What is the Windows 7 device? Is it the PC?

To be sure, Windows 7 firewall is not blocking access to your hotspot no?

My issue seems related https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/245655/my-android-hotspot-is-not-routing-data


text:
How can I open a `.rar` file if Solid Explorer fails?
I have the app Solid Explorer installed but the .rar file doesn't seem to be opening properly.  Which tool can I use to extract .rar files properly?
OS:  4.1.1
Device: S3

Try B1 Free Archiver, or AndroZip™ File Manager. If the file still doesn't open properly, it might be possible that the archive is corrupt. Try opening the same archive on PC as well, just to be sure.

I don't have PC access but I'll try the other methods.

Solid Explorer should be able to open RAR files. Try opening the file on a PC, as it may be corrupted.


text:
How can I view the contents of an .srt file on my Android?
OS: 4.1.1
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S3
I have a French .srt file that I want to view and edit the contents. How can I achieve this?

.srt looks more like a subtitles file for subtitling films, a plain text file, with time frame where spoken language is used.

Possible duplicate of How do I open a text file of any extension in Android?

Change the extension from .srt to .txt, then any word editor will work.
I use ES file explorer's editor.
When finished, change the extension back to filename.srt. It works fine for me.

With Subtitle Editor Free you can edit your subtitles in your mobile
  phone. Application support several different encodings and you can
  edit time, text, re-sync subtitles and app has a lot of other
  functions. Try this app!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mixedapps.subtitlescreator

.srt is just text. So, I'm sure you can edit it using any text editor like Jota+.
Give it a try, and let me know if it works.

Sorry, haven't tried it yet! Wanted to look into the price.  :-)

@verve The free version is good enough. :)

Is there a word counter on it?

@verve Doesn't look like it has one


text:
Android Tablet Restored, Can't Reinstall Same Apps
My Android tablet 'broke'.  Sent it in to the OEM and they fixed it under warranty and shipped it back.  Now, when I go to re-install certain apps, they won't install to my tablet because Google Play says they're "already installed".  But the OS was reloaded and they are no longer installed.  How do I re-install my apps without repaying?

Have you tried installing from the web version of the Play Store?

You could try factory resetting you tablet. Not sure if it might help. It's worth a try.

It was ‘‘factory reset'' when I got it back from ASUS.


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how can i connect the usb cable from my lg p350g into my computer to transfer its stuff?
i have done it before but the notification does not appear its charges my phone but cannot connect the phones internal SD to my computer. Please help

If you go to Settings and follow the More item in the Network section, do you find an entry like USB connection mode? Or, when you connect your device, do those settings not pop-up asking you to connect?

When you connect your phone to your computer, You get a pop-up showing a green android with one hand being a USB.
There, click on Mount SD card or an option similar to that.
You should be able to use the SD card as a flash drive.


text:
google play store says no connection retry
When I open the Google Play Store it says, no connection retry even when I am connected to wifi and when I hit Sign In in the Youtube app it says, An error occurred.

Have you ever been able to get to Play Store (or other Google services) on this phone?

See also: Why does Google play show a "no connection: retry" error?

See also: Always seeing "No connection: Retry" in Android Market

See also: Google Play Store gives error "No Connection"

See also: Internet Apps are not working but browser works just fine and i am able to access websites

You checked your internet connection of the modem/router? I also got that problem several times.. > modem/router/ap restart helped me in this cases because it was a connectivity issue with my provider and not an android/app problem.
Sometimes even a simple turn into flight mode and back resolves this issue (at least for me).

To decide whether it's your router or rather the Android device, it might help checking the colors of your connection icons in the notification bar. If they are white/gray, the Google servers cannot be reached (so it might be the router/AP). If they are green/blue, the Google servers are reachable, so it's more likely something "messed up" on your device (in which case the flight-mode-switch might help).

The browser works

If you're using a firewall app, make sure you've allowed the Play Store (or whatever other apps) in the firewall rules...AND that you've saved/updated the rules.
Apps like Android Firewall won't actually make the changes until you've chosen to 'Apply rules'.

Mine Solved..
Some times your network blocks ip's or google may black list your network ip's for some reason..
If setting date and time, clearing data and cache doesn't work. Install VPN HotSpot Shield via browser. Than turn this app on once it secures your connection you will be good to use play store.
Hope this helps.


text:
Record phone calls
Is there a way to record phone calls? I tried some apps that appeared to work but it seems these only record thru the mic, ideally it should work with headset and earphones too but it doesn't and the sound quality is really poor and buggy. Is there a market leader for this purpose? I want to automatically record all calls and preferably automatically save them to Dropbox, Skydrive or Google Drive. I have Samsung Galaxy S.
Update
I tried all the phone recording apps and none work.
Update
Why is something simple so difficult? I tried all the phone recording apps and none work. They don't even look good. This feature lacks support and it is important. We are many users who need to record phone calls. Why can't we?

This depends on if the kernel has the capability to have the call recording facility activated and enabled in place.

Link to how I can do it? I don't know how to do it and why is it so difficult to do something simple?

There's no "how-to-do-it", it is very specific to the manufacturer and kernel, if you're brave enough to hack, mod and recompile kernel, flash it and try it... not all DSP audio chipsets have the feature necessary hence a lot of work involved, not intended for average John Doe user. :)

@t0mm13b Thank you for the information. I've got progress but it's not perfect. I installed a buch of freeware recording to see whether I must do some kernel configuration and it seems that it can record (via microphone(?)) but it might be the case that I must activate some module or so in the kernel since the app I'm recommended in the answer is not working for me. I think this is an important feature that should be included and I see in discussions that I'm not alone in wanted this function. I'm a Java programmer and if I don't find a good 'nuf app I'll strike and make my own app to record.

Have you tried Galaxy Call Recorder yet?

Features list:
- Recording calls, ability to enable/disable recording service in the settings
- Showing grouped records extended with contact information such as name and icon.
- Settings to disable recording when headphones on or Bluetooth device connected
- Settings to disable recording for incoming, outgoing call and for some contacts.
- Ability to specify different audio sources for headphones and Bluetooth devices.
- Calling, sending SMS, creating an event from the app.
- Ability to stop recording from a notification.
- Ability to play, delete the recent record from a notification.
- Ability to specify a recording delay, a minimal length of records.
- Ability to enable/disable the detailed notifications in the program.
- Ability to record a conversation into a small set of files.
- Deleting a record or many records at once.
- Locking/Unlocking records to prevent unwanted deleting.
- Ability to automatically deleting records.
- Ability to send records to DropBox, Google Drive, and SkyDrive etc.
- Integration with Google+.
- Flexible UI settings to change a font size and a background.
- Screen Lock.
- Saving records to MicroSD card, DropBox disk.
If you already tried this, you should mention which apps you tried already.

In some (most) jurisdictions, this is legally not allowed and may fall under wiretapping laws. It would also allow easy covert surveillance by 3rd party apps and would scare most users while only a minority would benefit from it and ise it in the intended way.
Think of rogue apps (blackmailing the owner), cheated wifes/husbands wiretapping their SO, the scandal when reporters from the News of the World wiretapped Royals and celebrities, etc.
This is an anti feature that opens a can of worms.
From the technical side:
The Android kernel/API do not expose a way to do that. This is why it doesn't work unless you install a hacked 3rd party firmware that allows that. Searching XDA developers for modded firmware for your model will probably yield some.

Some phone models allow recording and in many countries recording phone calls is completely legal as long as you are active member of conversation.

And in the rest of the jurisdictions it's perfectly legal.  The world is not run by a compiler that interprets everything in the worst possible way to prevent you from hanging yourself.  There are plenty of reasons why free people would want to record their own calls, not that free people even need them.


text:
HTC EVO TWRP No Kernal Installed TWRP
I have a freedom pop HTC EVO LTE (Jewel), and I have erased the image and no OS is installed.  I have TWRP installed and I can boot to recovery, but I am unable to flash any ROMS.  I have tried MeanBean, but the kernel install is not working and errors out.  How can I get the Kernel and or a new ROM installed so the phone will boot?
TAMPERED
UNLOCKED
S-ON
HBOOT-2.1.0000

"but I am unable to flash any ROMS" -- can you elaborate on this part? Which TWRP version are you using? Is it official or unofficial? What ROMs have you attempted to flash so far?

I have tried cyanogenmod, and meanbean.  Cyanogenmod fails with error: can't extract binary.  Mean bean fails with error above (can't install kernal).  I am unsure what official vs unofficial twrp is.  The phone came with it on it from freedom pop.

It appears that for Meanbean ROM, data and system flashed successfully and some problem occurred when flashing kernel. Do this: in your PC, extract boot.img from Meanbean ROMs zip and copy it to /sdcard of device. Then in TWRP, go to Install, select IMG instead of ZIP option at the bottom, find and select boot.img under /sdcard/, and when asked for, choose boot partition. Report us the results.

Do I flash meanbean rom via zip after the boot.img?

This time: wipe System, data and all caches. Then flash Meanbean ROM. It would flash data and system fine (if I trust the screenshot) but fail at boot. For boot, follow my earlier comment.

I do not have the option to flash .img from twrp. looks like that is not available until 2.8.4.0

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


text:
Does Cyanogenmod reduce battery life?
My galaxy mini was running GB 2.3.6. I recently rooted my phone and installed CM 7.2. Now it looks like my battery is getting drained a little quicker than before. From what I have heard CM increases performance while giving a better battery life. So is my case an exception? Can somebody suggest methods to increase battery life after installing Cyanogenmod?

possible duplicate of What can I do to increase battery life on my Android device?

It definitely does on some devices.

I can think of two reasons why a CM ROM might reduce battery life:

CPU governor:
The cpu governor controls the frequency of the CPU depending on the requirement. Your ROM might be using a governor that favours performance over battery life. Selecting a governor that achieves a good balance between performance & battery life might help you. You can learn more about cpu governors here
Battery calibration:
The battery status is stored in a file called batterystats.bin. Its possible that your phone is using the same batterystats.bin that came with the rom. You can use an application like Battery Calibration to regenerate this file with new/accurate stats.(a myth according to this)

It Depends. yes, depends on your settings (Auto Brightness, Wifi Scan interval, GPS, Auto Sync Enabled) type of applications installed (Widgets and its high auto refresh rate) and many more (kernel wakelock) etc.
Just try to check what consumes your battery using better battery stats. From that you can identify, what causing battery drain.

To answer your question, if you have cyanogen mod installed, no new aps just the rom and you use the phone exactly as you would youse it with your stock rom, yes cyanogen mod will take more battery but at the same time it is more light weight and faster.
So yes cyanogen mod does take up a bit more battery then a stock rom, at least from my experinece with cm.

Can you give any source for this? On all my phones, my experience always was the other way around: with CM, they were/are smoother running and the battery did last longer (20% increased battery-life was no exception). You cannot generalize it as such: with what do you compare? What you are implying is "any other ROM saves more than CM -- CM is the worst battery eater amongst all the ROMs available". Sounds unbelievable to me :)

I was comparing it to STOCK rom only. And as Cyborgs mentioned it depends on how you use your phone, but if you compare EXACTLY the same Stock rom with CM, same useage and all you will get a better battery life on stock then cm. and why do you even mention smooth running if you are comparing battery life. i mention to that if you refer just to battery on cm is not that good but you get a lot of other good stuff. I love CM, and it is the only rom I use and recommand but let's face it it will never have same battery as the stock rom does.

First: I mention smooth running as the OP asked for it ("increases performance"). And second: as I wrote, on all my devices I used CM on, it performed better and battery life was better as well. But I forgot this was not a generic question, but relates to a specific device I never owned -- so your "stock ROM" was a specific one (the stock ROM of this device) as well -- and it was rather me who generalized; my apologies for that! Still, it might be a good idea to either give a source -- or at least restrict it "to your experience" ;)

Ok I will tell you the phones I tested CM on. HTC wildfire,desire hd, Huawei Pulse, xperia s and xperia z the galaxy series except the tabled ones and galaxy note 2. Yes you are right i have generalieze a bit, but i tought since i used it on many models it would be the same for all the others. I am sorry that i have generalized for all devices.

Strange: the Wildfire was in my repertoire as well. And it got much smoother and much more battery-saving with CM7. -- but let's stop this here: we are not a discussion forum. I'd still suggest to include a "to my experience" with your answer :)

Just for my experience with the Xperia Mini Pro (3 years of use and the new Note 3:
The stock was more efficient in using the battery even it was filled with bloatware.
Same reason why i am looking this up - to go with some stock modified rom or CM which i like more, but battery is a must...

Most of the custom ROMs usually eats little more battery than the pre-installed OS. Cyanogen is optimized ROM, if you have downloaded it from the their official site. Because there are many other developers customizing Cyanogen OS with little more perks and ultimately messing up the performance.
As you have already mentioned, you might have downloaded unofficial CM. Just check the source from where you downloaded.


text:
During locked screen: Notificaton 'Rights requested'. Google Account manager then crashes
Since a few days ago, my device has started showing an exclamation mark in the status bar when the lock screen is active. Today, this happened several times.
In the notification area there is a message that says:

Rights requested for account myAccountName@gmail.com

This is the phone's main account.
If I click on the message, Google account manager seemingly starts - and immediately shows a message indicating it has stopped. I assume this means that it crashed.
I didn't do anything myself that created the notification the notification since lock screen was enabled.
Is this is just odd programming, Or should I investigate further? May a virus be active?
System: Galaxy S3, Android 4.3 and SRT AppGuard installed.
UPDATE 20140720
I long-pressed the notification to get App details. Reports the details of Google Account Manager.
As said in my comment, I'd expect a crash in a user-installed application.
UPDATE 20140728
Recently, several time App details reported AppGuard as the problem app.

Have you followed up to check which app is behind it (i.e. causing the notification, by long-pressing it and follow up to the app info)? Could it be an app you manipulated with SRT? A missing permission (one you revoked using SRT) could possibly cause a crash, if the resulting exception is not handled.

@Izzy Thank you! That's what I guess too. I wonder, why Google account manager crashes, not the application itself. No, I didn't press the notification long. I'll give it a try.

That's what puzzled me, too (and why I didn't make it an answer straight ahead). I personally wouldn't use SRT at all for several reasons, but almost all alternatives require root (not an option for everybody)… Let's see what the notification reports as its source.

@lzzy Reports Google Account Manager, no user-installed application.

Sorry, out of ideas then. Except for removing all SRT stuff from the device, and replace SRT by something else (guess your question is already on SR for that ;) and see whether that improves the situation.


text:
How to know my base station?
I am an android user and I would like to know what are the available base stations and what is the base station that I'm getting signals from. How can I know that? Is there a way?
Thanks in advance..!

It's possible to get the cell tower id and location using the PhoneStateListener of the Android API.
Here are some apps that seems to use this feature to show some information about the nearest cell towers :

OpenSignal - 3G/4G/WiFi maps
Signal Finder
Antennas

Also, Llama, the automation tool, works on Cell Tower signature - it has a listing of when they are in range to trigger actions.

I've used OpenSignal in the past when I was troubleshooting 3G connection issues, it does this sort of thing well.


text:
Can't boot phone or access recovery mode
I tried updating a custom ROM on my Samsung Galaxy S: Semaphore Version 9 (Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean). The update was successful except that it produced an error after completion saying the process "android.process.acore" has stopped.
So I had to restore to the previous version through recovery mode. However after the the applications were calibrated and the phone was supposed to start, it did not! The boot animation kept on going. I tried restoring my phone to the back up that I had created when I was using ICS 4.0.4, but I realized that I had deleted the ZIP file of the ICS version.
Now when my phone powers on, it only displays the picture of the kernel version of the back up version of ICS.
I cannot access recovery mode. I tried to hard reset as well, as described in one of the links, but that didn't work either. However, The download mode works fine.
Is there anyway I can make my phone work?

If download-mode still works, you can flash a ROM via Odin (Windows only) or Heimdall (cross-platform).

Does your phone have root?


text:
Incoming calls: no caller info when device is locked
When my phone is locked, if somebody calls, I am not able to view the caller details on the screen. I can only find the receive and decline options. How can I change this?


text:
Can I use my Windows anti-virus program to scan my Android device?
I have been researching anti-virus apps and before choosing one I was wondering if I could get the same detection by using my Windows anti-virus.
I realize that an app will provide real-time protection, but aside from that, is there any difference in virus detection?

Not usefully. You need different software to run on your Android device to what you run on your Windows desktop because they use completely different formats for programs. An Android program is a different sort of beast to a Windows program.
A virus-scanner for Windows understands the format of Windows programs, and has a list of known viruses for Windows. If it looked at an Android program, it wouldn't understand what behaviour it would do, and it wouldn't find it in its list of Windows viruses.
The best you could do with a Windows virus-scanner is to scan the SD card of your Android device to see if it contains any Windows programs which would, if run on your Windows computer, be viruses. That's to say, it's exactly like virus-scanning a USB stick. It's only useful if you use your Android device as a USB stick, to transfer programs from one Windows computer to another.

Thanks, any suggestions for Android apps?

@Op Do not use antivirus scanners on Android - they are nothing more than bloat and not work. Search on this site about it, its an often asked question, see this for example - take note of the comments in that question.

Forgive me my sarcasm, but if you're looking for a virus on Android, you could also use a flatbed scanner :)
Honestly: No, you can't use your Windows AV program for that. If you really want to detect all malware possible sitting on your device, the app would need to access the entire device, including internal storage. Windows can't do that, as Android would not let it. Usually, only the SDCard(s) are exposed to an attached PC.

As for my initial sarcasm (which I hope you forgive me): the term "virus" is quite ambiguous. See this Wikipedia article:

A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another.

There's nothing like that for Android. Which is, strictly speaking, an AV scanner is as effective as a flatbed scanner here (or vice-versa). The article continues:

The term "virus" is also commonly, but erroneously, used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have a reproductive ability.

So you're more likely looking for malware :) Still, you cannot do that from your Windows computer.

Thanks for the info. Forgiven, but I was using the word loosely. Any suggestions for Android apps for the cure?

I never used any of those. And never had any trouble with malware. The only way to get malware onto your Android device is to actively install it, so "activated common sense" is the most effective AV app available. If you insist to have something like that, take a look at e.g. Avast Mobile Security & Antivirus or Lookout Security & Antivirus.

Windows AV would scan threats against the its operating system, nothing more. Perhaps you may try a scan on SD card for hidden viruses but nothing else.
I suggest you try the following apps
Antivirus Security AVG
Lookout Security & Antivirus
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=antivirus&c=apps

if your phone is rooted  windows can access all files includeing pre installed stuff on rom but however like most people said  windows scanner is in windows code etc  so scanning it would be useless  but if rooted your pc can delete rom installed programes etc from the command line or a basic apk phone manegemnet programme like apk installer will do it as well

So what good should that be for? Are you saying "it can scan, but not find anything – but that doesn't matter as it at least can delete things"? I don't get it.


text:
Can't Factory Reset HTC Desire C
I tried unlocking the bootloader (which I apparently succeeded at.)  I then tried rooting it, which I failed at.  I just want to reset the phone back to factory settings but when I try to do a factory reset it will reboot into the (and I don't know if this is the right name for it or not) bootloader screen, where it says my phone is relocked and gives me the options "bootloader", "reboot", "reboot bootloader" and "power down"
What do I do?  If I reboot the phone will restart but nothing has been erased.

I would probably just flash it with a stock ROM, also you should always backup any device before you screw with the operating system (this goes for computers and phones!)
Make sure that the ROM you flash your phone with matches the phone EXACTLY. If you get a ROM that is for your phone, but for a different carrier, it will brick your phone and you will be out of luck.
Good luck!

If the bootloader is really unlocked, you should install a custom rom.
Personally, I like the explos!on rom, which can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2000636
Unfortunately, HTC has not released a RUU for this phone, so it will be impossible to flash the original ROM.


text:
Turn off email notifications (not Gmail)
I have been getting email notifications from Gmail and the default email app on my Samsung Galaxy Exhibit. I only want to use Gmail but, when I go to uncheck "show notifications" for the default email app, I am unable to do so (it is grayed out). Why is this? I really don't need double notifications.

Why did you sign into the regular email app to start with? Can you simply sign out of it? You can also just disable the email app altogether.

I don't remember signing into it...if I did it was because I didn't realize there were two email apps. How do I disable it? I have tried hitting 'force stop', but it keeps on running...

right next to the 'force stop' button, there should be one that says disable. Otherwise I would try to go and look in your settings>accounts and remove the email account.

I found it! Accounts > Email > Settings > General Preferences > Priority Sender Inbox > Email notifications

@Jenna: If you found the solution and it isn't already listed, feel free to post your own answer and mark it as accepted.

Open phone settings
Go to "Accounts/Account sync
Find your phone's email icon/widget.
Tap it, then tap the on "Remove Account."

Options:

Disable the default email app - Settings>Apps>Email> "Disable"
Remove the email account - Settings>Accounts> "Remove the email account"

I'll add any other ways that I think of if I figure out other possible options to handle the problem.

Go to Gmail app

Settings>Notifications>"Turn Off"

Or
Restart your device and try to turn off via Settings>Apps Info>Gmail and uncheck notifications.

In the default E-mail App click settings, click on the account  turn/slide Notifications off for new E-mails. Android 7.0 Software H87110p AT&T Carrier Phone LG-H871


text:
How to turn HTC Widfire with blank screen into debug mode
My screen on HTC Wildfire has gone blank and so have got my phone upgraded. Whilst the guy in the shop was able to transfer my pictures and video, when he tried to transfer my contact phone numbers he said he couldn't do that without putting the phone into debug mode, and he could only do that if he could see what he was doing on the screen.
Is there any way of getting a HTC Wildfire into debug mode without having to use the screen?

Possible duplicate: Broken screen while debug mode was disabled. How can I re-enable adb? (but judging from there, the answer is "no").

Your contacts are saved in Google contacts and your photos and video in SD card.

Nick didn't write whether he had his contacts synced, so you cannot be sure of the first part, roxan. Further, pictures and videos already have been obtained according to the question text. Apart from that, nothing left of your answer -- sorry ;)

Maybe after looking at my answer he'll check Google contacts and find the contacts there. :D

Admitted, chances are good -- if he returns to check for answers :)


text:
Use AND logic on variables in Tasker
I have Tasker speak texts to me if the phone is not in silent mode. (The task looks something like Say 'text from %SMSRN who said %SMSRB' if %SILENT ~ off, and it's run by a profile activated when a text is received.)
This works well except when I'm on a phone call and the text is read out while I'm in conversation!  Doesn't happen much but it's annoying. So what I want to do is have it read out texts when I'm not in silent mode AND when I'm not on a call.
I can set up a variable %INCALL to equal 1 when the phone is off the hook (and clear the variable when the phone is idle).
Therefore, I want texts read (if %SILENT ~ off AND %INCALL != 1).
I can't see any way to do an AND in Tasker logic. Is there an elegant way to handle this?

You can specify AND logic in contexts, not just tasks. Don't forget that you can have multiple contexts that must all be met (logical AND) before the task(s) run. Try adding the context State > Call [Any, Invert = YES]; this would mean the profile will only activate 1) when a text is received AND 2) no call is active.

A great solution. I'd forgotten that by long pressing on a context the option pops up to add another context. I added the call state as you suggested and it's working perfectly.

An easy way to achieve this would be to concatenate variables. You already mentioned setting %INCALL to "1" or "0". Have another numeric one for %NOTSILENT = 0/1, and then check for %INCALL%NOTSILENT ~ "01" (you might need to play with the syntax, this just gives the raw idea ;)