How do I prevent hacking on my Android?

[TheGardener]

I was doing a search on Google for an address, while driving in my car near a university. And for those concerned, I did this only while stopped at a red light or pulling over. Something popped up on my screen, saying "Congratulations.... I am a lottery winner or something to that effect. I really didn't read it for detail, but I couldn't do anything on Google, and I feared clicking on anything. The only way I could get rid of it, was to shut the phone off and power back on. What can I do to prevent this from happening?

 

[Crono]

That's only in browser via a script, most likely. Very unlikely to be someone actually hacking your device.

Get Firefox. It supports all the extensions desktop Firefox does and an ad blocker like uBlock Origin or Bluhell Firewall should stop most of those fullscreen takeover types of ads. There's also AdAway for blocking ads system wide (meaning no ads in apps, either) but that may require root.

Also, I love your sig. I :wub: dark chocolate.

 

[AMDisTheBEST]

You downloaded malware. Uncheck install from unknown sources and only download from google play. You will never fall victim to hacking that way.