Galaxy s3 wifi/gps keep auto connecting

[Jcuervo947]

Hello everyone, I recently got a S3 from VZW. I updated it, and rooted it successfully. That being said, I only have a few apps on it atm. Randomly I have noticed my Wifi will auto connect (even though the setting is disabled) and I will see my GPS activate at the same time. They both stay activated and WILL NOT shut down when I manually turn them off, I have to wait until the phone is done doing its thing before they will shut themselves back off. Sometimes the phone will even become unresponsive when I try to interfere with whatever its doing. The best guess I have on what could be causing this is my AVAST antivirus program. I think it may have something to do with the lost/stolen phone feature. However, when I go into all of the settings I see nowhere to disable this or anything really mentioning this. If it IS AVAST doing this, I would like to have the option to turn this off until I send a txt message to the phone telling it to locate. Is it AVAST doing this or is something else going on? Thanks

[Lisandro]

This ocurred in the past for me on Galaxy Nexus.
I'll look for the reasons of the problems:
1. The ROM used (if it is not the Google stock one).
2. In Network "tweak" apps (increase signal, etc.).
3. Wifi tools/apps and also their toggles/widgets.
4. Profile tools (energy, battery, etc.).

[Jcuervo947]

Thanks for your reply. I dont want to reset everything back to factory settings quiet yet, so Ill wait a few days and see what someone might come up with. =D

[Lisandro]

Thanks for your reply.

You're welcome.

I dont want to reset everything back to factory settings quiet yet, so Ill wait a few days and see what someone might come up with. =D

Indeed it's not the first idea... Did you make a nandroid backup before?
Sorry, stupid question. You're rooting the phone...

[Jcuervo947]

Correct, I didnt install any custom roms or anything. Its ICS  4.04 (verizon flavor) that I rooted. I went ahead and uninstalled some of the apps except avast. Its still doing this, should I try to uninstall avast and reinstall it?

[Jcuervo947]

*UPDATE

I am almost 100% sure this is AVAST doing this because, when this happened again I paid extra attention to my phone. When the WIFI and GPS auto connect I see a message pop up at bottom of screen that says: "Superuser has granted permission to AVAST" and it will do its thing for a minute or so, then it will shut back off.

[Lisandro]

*UPDATE

I am almost 100% sure this is AVAST doing this because, when this happened again I paid extra attention to my phone. When the WIFI and GPS auto connect I see a message pop up at bottom of screen that says: "Superuser has granted permission to AVAST" and it will do its thing for a minute or so, then it will shut back off.

Turn off the automatic update of avast! Mobile Security AND the avast! Anti-Theft and post back. Thanks.

[Lisandro]

By the way, are you using avast! firewall? If any program is trying to connect, avast! needs superuser rights to use the firewall...

[Jcuervo947]

Yes I am using the Avast Firewall actually, to stop a few of the bloatware from connecting. Ill try to disable these things and let you know. Thanks!

[svehlak]

Do you have antitheft installed too?

[Jcuervo947]

Yes, the Antitheft is installed and setup correctly. I went ahead though, and disabled the two things you mentioned, and so far it has worked, My phone hasnt tried to auto connect to GPS or WIFI since.

[reinhardholzner]

only thing where avast! Anti-Theft enables WIFI is whenever it does GPS tracking (to find out the WIFI access points around). Sometimes in the current public version it keeps WIFI on (does not turn it off again if it was off before the tracking attempt) because of a bug. It will be fixed in the next official update.

[Jcuervo947]

Alright I am fairly certain this is what has happened. I look forward to the next release, thanks for your friendly help! =D

EDIT: Quick question, I live in a rural area that doesn't have many local public WIFI access points, can you make an option to turn this feature OFF in the next release, and instead force the connection through your 3g or 4g mobile data? 

[Jcuervo947]

Is it possible to set up the anti theft portion of the program in a way, so that it doesn't automatically update to the server every hour?  The thing is, I dont want my phone to connect to services automatically at all. (especially WIFI). The only time I want this service to work is if I lose my phone, I can log in to this website, send a sms message to my phone enabling my 3g data connection and gps to locate. However, while my phone is NOT lost I dont want it doing anything at all, aside from a possible weekly update.

[reinhardholzner]

i think you confuse something here. anti-theft is not contacting the server (usually) if there is no good reason for it. The other thing is the AMS anti virus update. I think you agree that its necessary to keep your virus definitions up to date...