Remove "Vodafone Updates" App/Service

[SimonRear]

After dialgogue with Kasperskey support it appears the "Vodafone Updates" service on my new Galaxy Note 4 (KitKat 4.4) is preventing the Kaspersky Internet Security App from secure browsing. Kaspersky have suggested I get in touch with vodafone to establish how this can be removed since normal methods, and unistallers cant uninstall this. Is it possible to remove this service? What does it do?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Regards, Simon.

[Ellis_VF]

Hi @SimonRear 

Vodafone Updates is an app that allows you to keep up to date with the various other apps and advantages that come from Vodafone. It is part of the Vodafone package and is not able to be removed from the phone. However, it should not be affecting any other service and we have not encountered any problems before with it causing issues with internet security programs.

Could you provide further information about what exactly is happening. Preferably with any error messages you might have received.

[SimonRear]

Hi Ellis thank you for your reply. In short the "Vodafone Updates" App/Service is detected as the default browser by Kaspersky Internet Security, (KIS). I need to be able to change the default browser to Chrome within KIS, (ewnabling secure browsing), but am unable to.

When I click on the [Web] button within KIS the "selecting the default browser dialogue" is displayed asking me to click next, and select default settings. Clicking on [Next] brings up the app info window for the Vodafone Updates App, which has no default settings option, (which would otherwise allow me to clear it as the default browser). KIS Web Protection settings option reports the current default browser as "Vodafone Updates". I suspect Vodafone Updates is incorrectly been identified as the default browser.

The phone is shipped with the Vodafone Updates app and it is not possible to uninstall it, (there is no uninstall option for it in the application manager). All I can do is [Force Stop] this app. I have tried Force stopping the app but KIS still identifies it as default browser.

As a result KIS is not protecting my mobile web browsing.

I have tried various troubleshooting steps as detailed in the KIS support forum thread "Unable to change KIS Android Default Browser". But have been able to resolve or workaround this problem.

I have managed to get this to work on other non Vodfone branded android phones. It appears the vodafone branding is conflicting with this security suite.

Any further help you can provide would be useful.

Kind Regards, Simon.

[hrym]

That's odd, as Vodafone updates isn't a browser as such.   If you only have one "proper" browser installed, try adding another one, such a Opera or Firefox.  Then open a link in something (email yourself one if necessary).  The phone should ask you which browser you want to use (and Vodafone Updates shouldn't be in the list).   Make sure "set as default" is ticked and then tap the one you want to use.   Does KIS now identify that as the default browser?   If so, you can probably uninstall the second one and it should still work.

If that fails, you could have a look at Vodafone Updates in Settings|Apps, scroll down the various options for "clear app defaults" near the end and tap that.  If it comes to it, the next step would be a factory reset, but I'm hoping that won't be necessary.

[SimonRear]

Hi - thanks for your response I have already tried installing browsers, resetting default browser and the clear defaults option is greyed out for "Vodafone Updates". KIS was one of the first apps installed so I am not confident a browser reset will help... I'll just live without secure browsing for now and hope a future update fixes this...

Regards, Simon...

[hrym]

To be honest, this sounds more like a Kaspersky issue than anything else.  I can't really see why it's identifying Vodafone Updates as a browser.  It's no more one of those than any other app that accesses the internet.

[Ben_H]

Hi Simon,

I'm inclined to agree with @hrym . The feature shouldn't interfere with Kaspersky like that, as it's not a browser.

Have you given them the details from this thread to see if you can get further comment from them?

Cheers,

Ben

[froggerty]

I assume that 'them' being Kasperski, would be worth contacting and explaining the problem to them, it could be something to do with the software interpreting the App as a browser. There's a conflict between the security programme and the App somewhere.