MacKeeper

[Boslandew]

This is my first visit to the site.

Could someone give me the pros and cons of MacKeeper. I'm tempted but would like to know others thoughts about it. I should say that I'm a user sooner than an enthusiast.

Secondly, a bank on which I do some of my on-line banking keeps urging me to take a security package called Rapport that they are offering. Has anyone any experience of this and is it worth it

Thanks in advance

[Macman45]

As far as Diskeeper goes, frankly it's a waste of money IMO...Many here would agree and a search will give you more information. Believe it or not, it can actually cause issues if used incorrectly. Unlike a windows machine, your Mac does a very goof job of taking care of itself, and third party applications are not required.

As far as Rapport goes, I can't help you there as I have never heard of it, but I have been doing ALL my banking online for years now, have never used anything more than the security provided by username and password / secret info, and have never had any issues at all.

[Boslandew]

Macman

Many thanks. I thought that was probably the case, my son has always said that Mac's are well protected. I think I'll give both a miss.

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by Boslandew

Could someone give me the pros and cons of MacKeeper. I'm tempted but would like to know others thoughts about it. I should say that I'm a user sooner than an enthusiast.

There are several threads about this app. I advise you to avoid it, based on the many complaints that have been reported about such apps. You don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Some can even degrade, rather than improve system performance.

Some remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space, with the risk of deleting something important in the process. These apps will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space.

Some of these apps delete caches, which can hurt performance, rather than help it, since more system resources are used and performance suffers while each cache is being rebuilt. Caches exist to improve performance, so deleting them isn't advisable in most cases.

Many of the tasks performed by these apps should only be done selectively to troubleshoot specific problems, not en masse as routine maintenance.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software. Among other things, it has its own maintenance scripts that run silently in the background on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, without user intervention.

Five Mac maintenance myths

[Boslandew]

Many thanks, GGJ. Seems to back up what MacMan said.

As I said, I'm a user rather than an enthusiast and have little knowledge of what goes on beneath the surface. My son, who is both a Mac user professionally and an enthusiast has always said that Mac's look after themselves so, I shall not bother with MacKeeper.

Thank you both again for taking the trouble to reply

Boslandew

[aaronvan]

I would NEVER purchase a product from a developer that constantly annoys me with ugly pop-ups.

[old-wiz]

Originally Posted by aaronvan

I would NEVER purchase a product from a developer that constantly annoys me with ugly pop-ups.

To me that's a sign of an unethical developer who should be avoided!

[ChrisMan287]

MacKeeper?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ

If you want an app to clean things up, look into OnyX.

[maurie116]

I am being attacked with many MacKeeper pop ups. Is there anyway to stop them? Thank you

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by maurie116

I am being attacked with many MacKeeper pop ups. Is there anyway to stop them? Thank you

They're likely just from sites you visit. Clear your browser's cache and cookies and make sure you have a good ad-blocker. I run several ad-blockers. ClickToFlash, Safari AdBlock, GlimmerBlocker and JavaScript Blocker are just a few.