[Yesterday (January 14), Bitdefender researchers reported that more than a dozen stealth Android apps are using all sorts of clever tricks to trick Google Play into thinking they are benign and displaying ads at random times.) [In all, 17 apps have been downloaded at least 550,000 times. They include a racing simulator, a barcode and QR code scanner, a weather forecast, and a wallpaper library. All work fine as intended, but Google Play customer reviews complain about "terrible intrusive ad pop-ups" and battery drain.

However, Google was apparently unaware of this, and it was only after being contacted by Bitdefender that the app began to be removed from the Google Play app store. As of this writing, some apps are still on Google Play, and apps will no doubt still be easily found on the "offload" market.

Apps often wait several hours after installation before showing ads, display ads at random intervals, or even hide their presence on the device, according to Bitdefender. Apparently, its stealthy nature succeeded in fooling Google's automated reviewers into thinking the app did nothing untoward.

Make no mistake, none of these adware-encrusted ads appear to be malicious. However, it is easy to craft them to install Android malware.

To protect yourself from malware and adware, make sure your phone or tablet (or TV, or car infotainment system) is running one of the best Android antivirus apps.

Here is a list of problematic apps. If you have any of these on your Android device, remove it.

The app title may vary by Android app market, but the package name -- the "com.xxxxxxx.xxxxx" part -- is the same. -- the "--" part remains the same. You can easily check to see if your app is in Google Play or another app market by searching for the app in your desktop web browser and replacing the package name in the URL with something else.