VIRUS IN S40

VIRUS!......Yes, this is the word that i have seen and heard almost everyday in s40 forum or from other people. This question is often asked or talked about by the users.
This simply means VIRUS is the most talked and discussed topic for various s40 users. So, i have decided to shed more light on it based on what i know.
Well, its always good to ask questions when you don't have or have little knowledge about a topic. Hence, I don't really blame anyone for lack of knowledge.
What is a VIRUS? Mobile viruses are small programs/applications/softwares specially programmed to do harmful activities in your phone or in the file system as the case may be. Those viruses are written in .sis, .sisx, or .exe format and they require an operating system to run.
Example: lets say a program was written to delete all images in the phone's system. Now, when this application runs, it is a kind of virus/malware. This is just a simple example out of lots of malicious program written to destroy or damage the proper runnings of the operating system.

Hence, to run those viruses or programs, it needs an operating system which supports sis, sisx or exe files. And without such OS, virus files cannot carry out their mission.

Nokia, a very big mobile manufacturing company, have implemented two operating systems(so far and popular) for their mobiles.

The Symbian s60 and the Java s40 phone platform which is officially known as NOKIA OPERATING SYSTEM.

But quite technically, one cannot consider it as an OS simply because it runs in Java platform. Unlike Nokia s60, Nokia s40 phones can only run Java applications. The sis, sisx and exe files(in which language viruses are written) will show 'Unsupported file type' in s40. And even when your phone gets a virus transmitted from a PC, it won't work and will be inactive and as it cannot run in those Java phones.

Furthermore, after having knowledge about the potency of viruses in s40 phones, the question now arises...
Is there and other virus which can affect s40? The simply answer is NO!

The reason behind this answer goes thus: the only application supported by s40 is Java and even if we make a Java virus, it still cannot do any harm.

Why? Because Java is limited or restricted from accessing native operating system or hardware by the highly encrypted Java environment. In other words, it closes the application folders. No file execution or installation can occur without user's permission due to closed source operating system of s40 phones.

Nevertheless, I have to mention and clear one thing that, s40 can get some faulty Java softwares which can do some harmful activities in your phone. This cannot be called VIRUS.

Example, a Java software can be programmed to send unlimited messages to a particular number until your credit is exhausted. There issues are talked about in many forums concerning Red Browser in s40v5 or what have you. But still, it is not possible if the application is untrusted or unsigned or you have not set the Java permission to 'always allow'. So, if you are too much concerned about those Java files, I would suggest you don't use any untrusted application.

As there is no virus for s40, so there is no anti-virus for it too.

How about the s40 Anti-virus available? The basic truth is that, those applications are only made to put a wool over people's eyes, showing some animations on the screen.

Another instance is when some strange behaviour of a phone or a memory card which may look like a virus effect. When this is noticed. I would suggest the first thing to do is possibly a firmware problem or fault or a hardware damage.

In the case of a memory card, it could be a technical error which can be overcome by formating it.