A greater concern might be . An app designed to exploit an Android phone, if written to take advantage of the root privileges, can cause greater harm because it can execute any command and can overwrite any file.

A concluding consideration supported by few facts but often speculated about is that some custom ROMs may be freemium tactics to intercept existing mobile ad networks such as Admob and replace them with alternative ad networks in which the custom ROM developer shares in the profits.

Whether to root or not is really a question of the user's interests. If the phone user is a super-user, developer or hacker on other devices, he/she is likely to find rooting interesting and rewarding. If the user is the more typical phone owner wanting to browse, message, use Facebook, play games and make an occasional phone call, he/she will most likely reject rooting when the complexity and risks of rooting and reflashing are understood.

Steve Patterson is a freelance tech journalist and new business strategy consultant. He can be reached at stevepatterson2007@gmail.com.

in Network World's Anti-malware section.