My only real intent here is to stand up against misinformation when it comes to Microsoft. You said, "First of all, Macs do not accumulate the sludge files that Windows installs seem to accumulate over time." Sludge files? I would ask you to clarify what you mean by "sludge files." Runtime application data? You mean Macs don't cache runtime data for common applications? How about temporary internet files? Do Macs not use cookies or cache for Internet browsing? I know I had to turn them off on my iPhone and iPad, so I'm sure they're available. Maybe by "sludge files" you mean the enormous catalog of drivers that Microsoft packages in their OS? You do understand that Microsoft operating systems are designed to be run on almost any PC platform and that those drivers exist to cater to the myriad configurations possible with PC hardware? Don't misunderstand me: if you want to pay the relatively high price for an Apple device, that's fine, you ARE getting a proprietarily-pegged piece of hardware that is specifically designed for the operating system. It's the difference between a sport-tuned Lambo and a Ford diesel truck: both get you where you want to go.
Next, you mentioned defragging and "optimization," and that makes me chuckle a bit. Yes, NTFS has its pitfalls. It can be kludgy and is not as "refined" as an extfs-based machine, but Apple (and Linux) folks have continued to pull out this old dead horse and continued to beat it while modern versions of Windows no longer use defragging, esp. if you have an SSD. And if you're using an SSD in your Mac, guess what? You're "trimming" that SSD the same way that Windows does. If that's what you mean by "optimization," so be it.
And fine, I'll concede on the whole registry bit, because the registry is a bit of relic that Microsoft needs to address. The thing with the registry, esp. in Windows 7 and 8, is that it's more of a repository than an active hive anymore. Used to be that the hive had to be loaded into memory and would get bloated. Now they use some kernel-mode addressing tools to allow the registry to remain stateful while the kernel only plucks out the data needed. This saves a lot of processing cycles and is one of the main reasons why Win7 and 8 have been credited as being faster than their predecessors.
Bottom line, I guess all I ask, sword, is that when you post your Mac stuff, please show at least a sliver of respect for the other operating systems out there. You won't find a single post of mine, a Microsoft engineer, that compares Apple products to Windows negatively. I own an iPhone and an iPad and have one of the older HD Cinema monitors Apple used to make. Mac people are like streetcorner preachers: they try everything in their power to gain converts. They proselytize their product and laud its efficiency and effectiveness as a computing platform, but in the end, what I, as an MCP, find the most amusing about it all: Apple devices, at least in most corporate computing environments, become fancy terminal emulators running Windows on Parallels for corporate business applications.
Each platform has its place. I truly believe that. I'm not trying to convert anyone. I'm just asking that you cool it with the "Microsoft is evil" tripe.
wait, you mean you guys really don't eat babies?
You are absolutely right about it being a good example of a social engineered scheme that preys on the ignorance of recent Mac converts.
I would not agree that Macs are as susceptible to EXPLOITS as other platforms. . . there is a difference and that was the crux of our discussion. . . not vulnerabilities.
Sludge files are a good term for files that are left behind by incomplete uninstalls of software. . . and that happens all too often on Windows. Look around after you do an uninstall of Norton on a Windows computer and see what their uninstaller leaves behind, orphan files everywhere. Same thing in the Registry. Sludge. Is it fair to lay that at feet of Microsoft? Perhaps, perhaps not. But the messy architecture that allows placing pieces of apps everywhere and anywhere on the system permits it. It IS getting better but deleting an App should delete ALL of the App. If it leaves remnants, ghosts of apps past, that's sludge. Wouldn't you agree?
I am not posting "Microsoft is evil" tripe, but the kind of thing ex-Windows users remember and want to avoid that the MacKeeper advertisers are targeting with fear tactics.
I know that Windows 7 and 8 no longer have the issues you list. . . nor need to de-frag, etc. But a lot of ex-Windows people are still holding those OLD memes. . . and they think they have to run utilities to do it. It is these people who keep the Mac Anti-virus industry solvent.
Those who still own Windows boxes buy such utilities and use them even on modern Windows platforms. You see such utilities being advertised on TV to them. . . even one that crows about it being named the BEST Windows utility by PC Magazine and PC World (in 2005! LOL! I saw that ad just tonight. "But wait, call now and we'll send you two more for the price of one, just pay extra shipping and handling!") This is a sad fact but true.
Apple Macs clean up those temporary files.. . and clean up cache files. Apple Macs optimize the drive with every software install and if you leave your Apple on all the time, it does a lot of housekeeping when it's idle. . . and modern Windows are getting there on that. too.
But a lot of new Mac users came out of older Windows and remember doing defrags and getting faster responses from their computers. Many of them think that's what MacKeeper will do on a Mac. . . because running utilities like it on a Windows machine would speed up the Windows machine. "Defrag" was the term the non-techs remember. I STILL regularly get calls from people who want to know when they should "defrag" or "optimize" their drives on Windows 7, 8 or 8.1. Seriously. No one told them it was no longer necessary. It was to THEM I was addressing my comments.
So, Rarestia, you need to consider the people to whom MacKeeper is targeting and the people toward whom I was addressing my comments. . . to inform them in terms THEY would understand and relate to. NOT in terms of modern computers they don't believe DON'T need those things anymore. Think in terms of what they learned years ago. . . not what they should have learned as things improved.
Just last week i got a question from a new Mac user about how they could clean their Registry (!) on their Mac. See what i mean? My point on this thread was not to knock Windows, but to save people from thinking they need MacKeeper. They do not.