DBonebrake

To bring this topic to closure WRT my phone: I was never able to resolve the problem to my satisfaction (ie, could not permanently disable or remove the affected apps). I got a new phone (Mi A2 Lite, which I like much more than the Blu), thinking that I would root (and possibly brick) the Blu. I haven't got around to that yet. D

Thanks for your prompt reply; 'send apps' ticket generated and # PM'd to you. BTW, I'm not able to disable the problematic apps; that option is grayed out for all. I can 'force stop', but the popups eventually re-emerge. Thanks again, D PS: I read your interesting article on Adups. My phone was purchased from Best Buy, and not a discount retailer; does this make it less likely to have been infected by factory-installed ad/malware?

Malwarebytes found Android/Trojan.Fadeb.j on 'Travel Weather Forecast', 'LockApp','com.android.system.acu', and 'Calculator'. System is BLU Studio G2 HD, Android 6.0. These are system applications, and I cannot delete them. I'm getting random advertising popups associated with these apps (ie, sometimes when I open an unrelated app I get an advertisement, and when I minimize it I see that, eg, 'Travel Weather Forecast' is now running. 1) Is there a way to delete these apps without rooting the phone? 2) Do you think this malware was always present on the phone, or is the infection due to download(s)? I haven't downloaded many apps, and all have been from the Play Store. I uninstalled the last few installed apps, but the malware/undesired behavior remains. I've had the phone about 5 months, but this behavior only commenced about 2 weeks ago. Thanks.