Posted on 01/21/2015 10:23:51 PM PST by Swordmaker
Literally every time I work in the computer store, we'll get a customer whose Mac is plagued with problems they don't understand: Their Mac is acting slow. It crashes. And more. And in more cases than not, we find that they've installed a program called MacKeeper. Removing MacKeeper fixes the problem. So what is MacKeeper and why should you avoid it?
MacKeeper was originally developed by a company called Zeobit and was sold a couple of years ago to another firm called Kromtech. The software purports to be a suite of more than a dozen individual utilities that are actually supposed to improve the performance and stability of your Mac — antivirus software, optimization software, junk removal tools and more.
MacKeeper uses scare ads that appear as "pop-under" ads on web sites, telling people to clean their Macs. The pop-under business is the first thing I really don't like about MacKeeper. Quite frankly, I think it's a real bottom-feeder technique and a really low-class way to do business, and it tells me that they're not concerned with what people think of them.
MacKeeper's developers have been called out in the past for hosting fake web sites promoting their products and also for "sockpuppeting" phony user reviews. When they've been called out on this behavior in the past, they've conveniently blamed it on overly zealous affiliate marketers, saying it's not them, it's someone else. I'd posit that if your affiliate marketing strategy is attracting lying douchebags and scum, then you're the problem as much as they are.
But the real problems with MacKeeper that I can see is that it provides questionable value to most users, can destabilize an otherwise stable Mac, and embeds itself so thoroughly into the operating system that removing it is an uncomfortable and weird process.
Removing a Mac app should never be more involved than dragging it into the Trash and emptying the Trash, and perhaps entering an administrative password if it's a legit app you've downloaded from the Mac App Store. MacKeeper tries to get in your way, makes you verify that you don't want it, and even prompts you to explain why. That's not cool. That's certainly not something supported by Apple's own interface guidelines for legitimate app developers.
What's more, "uninstalling" MacKeeper doesn't get rid of all of it — you'll find various traces of it in your Mac's system library folder, and they take a bit to get rid of (just search for anything with zeobit or MacKeeper in the name, and you'll turn up files).
I've seen multitudes of forum posts and comments on web sites calling MacKeeper a virus or a malware package. The pathetic thing is that it isn't. It's just extremely persistent, poorly developed software whose developer tries very hard to keep you using the software and engages in really shady tactics to get you to use it in the first place.
I don't really understand all the whys of MacKeeper destabilizing an operating system, but I can tell you unequivocally that when we pull it from customers' Macs, they don't have those same problems anymore.
The folks who sell this software aren't thieves, for whatever it's worth. My own father tried it out on his Mac, paid for it, and immediately regretted it. After he finally extricated MacKeeper from his Mac, he requested a refund — and after a time got one, fortunately. So they will refund you if you feel like you got ripped off. (And no, he didn't come to my store to have it fixed — he's a bit more self-sufficient.)
But it'd be better if you didn't feel ripped off to begin with.
So if you've ever seen an ad for MacKeeper — even if it's here on iMore — and thought about giving it a try, my recommendation is not to. And if you do and run into problems, don't say I didn't warn you.
Save your money. The Mac does everything MacKeeper claims to do that are necessary without you lifting a finger. . . and there are some optional things it does you can do yourself for free.
And their tactics to get you to buy, and then keep, their service seem to be even worse than the actual product!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Hundreds of words for one purpose. Just say “do not use it, stay away.” How simple is that?
Doh! you guys should have used PC-Matic, now with SuperShield and MacKeeper.
Every time that my computer is acting funny, I find an ad from Mac Keeper on a pop up screen when I go to close down my computer. Even the ads slow down the computer! I hate them.
The only things that Apple and MS have in common:
-System architecture: AMD64
-Magnetic storage as default secondary storage
For the second one, of course, defragmentation is always a recommended maintenance task.
I’m glad I asked you about that thing several years ago. It’s nasty, alright.
Like the author, I especially dislike it’s ham-handed, scary popups, double close window sales tactics and they way they try to sleepwalk you into installing it by making it appear that you are closing the windows to navigate away from it. They haven’t got me yet, but they keep trying.
BTW, minor typo: "Mac converts to Windows have urges" should have been "Mac converts from Windows have urges", right?
For magnetic (rotating HD) storage, YES on Windows; not really necessary on Mac, as the Mac filesystem doesn't degrade nearly so quickly nor are the effects as performance-stealing as with NTFS.
But for SSD (solid-state drive) storage, NO, NO, NO. All that defragging an SSD does is use up valuable write lifetime. There is no performance penalty from fragmentation on an SSD, because there is no head/arm motion. No moving parts.
Defrag is an obsolete procedure especially with the huge drives in use today.
Herro? [One swing, three strikes.]
:)
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.
Only on Fridays during Lent.
I'll admit when I first started using Linux, I asked how to defrag the hard drive. This was years ago on a 5400RPM laptop HDD, so it was slow anyway. That was when I started to understand how bad some things are in Windows.
I appreciate the civil discussion, sword. I have nothing against Apple. I find many of their acolytes to be incredibly combative, but you're pretty level-headed all told.
I apologize for asking a question that has nothing to do with this thread. Asking here because I figure you have the tech knowledge to answere.
Most of the time, here on FR, I read only the excerpt, but, sometimes, I like to go to the source piece. Whenever I click on a “Breitbart” link, when I arrow back to FR, there is script missing on the page, such as screen names, as well as the choices under a post that start with “Reply”. The vertical lines are there, but the words are not.
I need to close the page down and start again to get the missing text back. Why does this happen?
I’m not exactly sure what’s going on: I’ve linked to Breitbart and returned to FR without problems.
What browser/operating system do you have?
I’m using Internet Explorer 11 on Windows NT build 9879 (Windows 10/Tech Preview/November).
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