Smartphone hygiene? Tips and Tricks for cleaning your Android device

1) I've been told that about every 90 days, the Android cleans out its junk. I don't wait that long. About once or twice a week, I go into "My File" and manually clean out the extraneous files myself. If it still appears to be "bogged down", I'll then go into an alternate file setup like Ghost Commander or Tiny File see if there was anything over looked or hidden from the Android filing system. That usually does the trick for me.

2) Every time I'm done using the internet, I clear the cache. I also clear all cookie, form, passwords, web history, and all other data. I found it's best if you use something other than your Android browser for web surfing. I use Firefox, which does a better job at clearing out this data.

3) DON'T INSTALL A DEFRAGMENTER IN YOUR ANDROID. It is a sales gimmick and doesn't do what you think. Android utilizes flash memory and has NO use for. Don't be fooled. .............

4) Install a good Antivirus program that not only detects a wide variety of viruses, malware, spyware, trojan horses, adware, etc. But also have one that will flatly state all app permissions, the Android itself does not detect all of them. I use a combination of two.

5) Using a firewall like Mobiwol doesn't hurt either.

6) etc.......

7) etc.......

— modified on Oct 4, 2013, 7:58:47 PM

Hey Amy, Loie was actually talking about literal cleaning of your smartphone, like with soapy water! But thanks for your tips! I NEVER think about the physical cleanliness of my phone, unless I've put greasy fingerprints on the screen when I eating and suing it at the same time. In which case a quick wipe on the ol' jeans suffices! But studies have found 1 in 6 smartphones carry E Coli or fecal matter, so it's a serious topic. I guess an alcohol swab wipe down every now and then may be a good idea during flu season if people are using your phone too. Makes sense considering the hands are so dirty and germy and we always have them all over our phones.

— modified on Oct 7, 2013, 6:06:49 PM

Kris, please tell me your joking! Soapy water, swabs, what's that????

Hey, I feel ya Amy! I seriously never think about it, but now that I've read a few things it's DEFINITELY got me thinking about it! I mean, who wants poop or E Coli on their phone? I stick the thing in my MOUTH when I'm scrounging around for my keys sometimes! EEEEEW!

Haha, know what you mean! Lately, I've found using the dirty sleeve on my shirt works miraculously well for screen cleaning!!!!!!!! I find washing my hands after I go helps a lot too!

What junk do you delete using Ghost Commander?

The majority of deleting I do is usually because of all the app uninstalling I do at one given time. You know there is a good chance of still having a left over files (ghost files) of the previous apps you uninstalled. It usually doesn't show up in the stock Android file (My Files).

Out of habit the Android is also very good at spitting out duplicate files (literally duplicates). This could be because the way a particular app is programmed or because the Android hasn't yet reached the time when it "cleans up". If you have enough of these things built up, it can really bog down the system and also leave it acting a little glitchy.

Some apps that have a very faulty behavior I may repath and delete the entire content and leave the emty shell to remain. I've done this to the majority of the cellular provider bulk that would not allow me to uninstall with out root and would only allow me to disable.

You have to be careful because some files are primary to an apps (or sometimes even the system's) function and may not run after you've deleted it. I carefully read both the apps manifest and the contents of the files itself (using the text file reader that Ghost Commander uses).

I suppose an equivalent is to backup and do a reset every now and then but I'm just too stubborn to do that.

— modified on Oct 26, 2013, 4:51:11 PM

Thanks a lot