A study has recently found out that most of the free anti-malware apps available for Android devices do not provide enough protection.  The study was conducted by AV-TEST, an IT security company.

According to the AV-TEST report (PDF) published last week, only one of the seven free anti-malware apps for Android that the company tested provided relatively acceptable safety and protection.

The testing firm conducted the test on the following free anti-malware apps:

• Antivirus Free
• BluePoint Antivirus Free
• GuardX Antivirus
• Kinetoo Malware Scan
• LabMSF Antivirus beta
• Zoner Anti-Virus Free
• Privateer Lite

Only Zoner Anti-Virus Free showed relatively acceptable performance, with malware detection effectiveness of 32%, according to the AV-TEST report.  The said anti-malware app was able to detect 8 out of the 10 malware programs introduced into the system.  Antivirus Free, GuardX Antivirus, and LabMSF Antivirus beta did not detect any at all.  The rest detected only 1 of the 10 malware programs.

According to the report, Antivirus Free is the most popular among the apps tested, which reportedly is installed in about 1 to 5 million devices currently.

The test was done using a Samsung Galaxy Tab running on Android 2.2.1 Froyo.  For comparison, two commercial apps were also used: Kaspersky and F-Secure, both of which did not show problems.

What anti-malware app do you use on your Android device?  And, are you sure it gives you 100% protection from malware threats?