The article linked about Android is probably a little overblown. Previous articles (within a couple of days) have given a somewhat less "sensational" pitch on the situation.

One particular virus, currently affecting only (or mainly) Android phones, has "set a record" for most (suspected) infections within a short time.

'Phone users include, apparently, quite a few people who are relatively uneducated about what's dangerous on the web.

As with any computer, the most frequent threats, regardless of the hardware used, are phishing ploys that attempt to persuade you to "click something" and the click gives your computer the instruction to do something you don't (or shouldn't) really want to be done. When you tell the machine what to do, it must do what you tell it.

"You da boss."

Windows, at least in Vista and Win7 has begun moving to more defensive behavior, and those machines now "argue with you" if you do something that "might be stupid," but down at the bottom line you can still insist on usafe behavior if you're determined to do so; and the new phones have brought lots of people who still lack even the most basic education about how to recognize the most basic of hazards, so there's a long way to go.

Prospects for rapid improvement are doubtful, given recent studies that have shown that large segments of our (especially younger) population can't tell the difference between entertainement and advertising. Those of us among their elders (or more experienced younsters) are only confused by the finer line between "information" and "propaganda."

John