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Resolved MacKeeper

jwolf6589

jwolf6589

macrumors 601
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
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Colorado
I would like to know what is so bad about MacKeeper. Do we have any hard evidence of its problems? I use MacKeeper but ONLY the virus portion and avoid the other utilities in the app. Yesterday I had a problem which It helped having MacKeeper installed. Without MacKeeper it would have been difficult to diagnose.

People have said it will corrupt my system yet it has not in the 2 or so years I have been using it. So please cite some evidence and not just opinions thanks.
 
jwolf6589 said:
I would like to know what is so bad about MacKeeper. Do we have any hard evidence of its problems? I use MacKeeper but ONLY the virus portion and avoid the other utilities in the app. Yesterday I had a problem which It helped having MacKeeper installed. Without MacKeeper it would have been difficult to diagnose.

People have said it will corrupt my system yet it has not in the 2 or so years I have been using it. So please cite some evidence and not just opinions thanks.
Click to expand...

Dear me not this again.

It's up to you to provide evidence that it actually does any good.
 
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A search of these forums would give you plenty of answers. For me the bottom line is that while MacKeeper might not technically be malware, it is sketchy at best. They advertise using popups, pop-unders, and scare mongering tactics. That's behavior that should not be encouraged, and a sign of a company I don't want to do business with.

Here is an article from iMore this site that gives some pretty good info on what MacKeeper is and why you should avoid it.
 
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jwolf6589 said:
I would like to know what is so bad about MacKeeper. Do we have any hard evidence of its problems? I use MacKeeper but ONLY the virus portion ...
Click to expand...
So you're getting nothing from it. There are no virus definitions for OSX since there has never been a virus affecting it in the public domain. Now, if you include other forms of malware, maybe MK found something.
 
OP: A search of MacRumors will provide many examples of people against MacKeeper. Maybe a search would also give you examples of how much people like it and the benefits. :rolleyes:

Your post history seems to indicate to me that you want attention. You seem to like to start controversial threads and continue to stir the pot to keep the thread active.
 
Others might have technical reasons to cite. Some people classify it as a "PUP" (potentially useless program). Personally, it's about their marketing and distribution methods.

Apparently, they're willing to pay people for distributing their product as part of fraudulent downloads. By fraudulent, I mean either the "You need xxxxx to view videos on this website. Download now" pop-ups that don't even deliver xxxxx, or in bundles from download sites that include unadvertised "bonuses." It's common to get both adware and MacKeeper in those downloads - perhaps that's just guilt by association, but since MacKeeper may also be advertised by that adware...

Then, there are the persistent pop-up notifications to pay for the software. If you knowingly download an app on a free trial, it's fair for that developer to periodically ask you to pay - if/when you open and use the app (notifications are part of the app itself). However, if you never asked for the program in the first place, haven't opened or knowingly installed it, you still get reminder pop-ups, and you have a hard time making those popups go away...? No, not ligit. Further, those popups come from adding an item to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items, or System startup items... you're running apps/processes you did not choose to run. That unwanted "reminder" app can indeed hurt overall system performance and degrade the user experience - maybe an imperceptible amount (on systems with plenty of resources), but on systems that are light on resources and/or already have other issues, it might be the straw that broke the camel's back, leading you to pay MacKeeper!

Then the user has a choice - pay up, or uninstall. Though it's easier to uninstall MacKeeper now than in the past, it's still tricky, as this article at MacWorld describes: http://www.macworld.com/article/286...how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-from-your-mac.html.

So even if MacKeeper was the best thing since sliced bread (and there's hardly agreement on that), I'd be looking for a competing product that used different sales and marketing methods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacKeeper will have further info for you - not that it takes a position one way or the other, but there are plenty of links for you to click.
 
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Gregg2 said:
So you're getting nothing from it. There are no virus definitions for OSX since there has never been a virus affecting it in the public domain. Now, if you include other forms of malware, maybe MK found something.
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I use it for Malaware then and not viruses.sorry my mistake.
 
jwolf6589 said:
I use it for Malaware then and not viruses.sorry my mistake.
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Wait, let me get this right.

You use and actively defend a scareware, bloated, paid application — with a wealth of documented rubbish, do-more-damage-than-good features; none of which you use anyway, by your own admission, other than the antivirus one — just so you can have functionality that MalwareBytes & Sophos/Avast does for free (and better)? From MacKeeper of all things? Are you serious?

I really hope this thread has some element of tongue-in-cheek, because if you gave this sort of consultancy advice to anybody in this industry who knows their backside from their elbow, you'd be laughed out of the office, at best — or more likely be dealing with a lawsuit/accusations of being a paid shill.

Furthermore, your implication that just because MacKeeper hasn't done any visible damage to your Mac, it must be doing some good, demonstrates a fundamental, wilful technical ignorance that these sort of immoral companies play on.
 
jwolf6589 said:
Outlook 2011 kept on crashing when opening. It was because of something that the app detected which was the problem. From there I was able to fix the problem.
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"fixed something" isn't specific enough to convince me that Mackeeper is doing anything positive. To use your words: please cite some evidence and not just opinions that Mackeeper actually does something. What exactly did Mackeeper detect?
 
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chrfr said:
"fixed something" isn't specific enough to convince me that Mackeeper is doing anything positive. To use your words: please cite some evidence and not just opinions that Mackeeper actually does something. What exactly did Mackeeper detect?
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http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...57?msgId=b0e291e3-0094-4a55-87d1-0d800be9ccf7

There is more detail there. MacKeeper found the problem and told me I had infected files in the temp outlook folder. Without MacKeeper I would have no idea why Outlook kept on crashing.
 
chrfr said:
How did Mackeeper lead you to that? Rebuilding Outlook's database has nothing to do with Mackeeper.
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I found my problem long before there was a reply there as MacKeeper told me there was an infected file. After I cleared the junk folder on Thunderbird the problem went away and Outlook no longer crashed. I was unable to clear the junk folder with Outlook as it kept on crashing. But it was MacKeeper that told me of the bad files.
 
My recollection of having MACKEEPER in use when I first bought this iMac was that it ran me ragged looking into 'faults' that did not exist, and stoppages I had to remove - then I removed MACKEEPER and it all stopped. Approach with caution. I have a great dislike for apps which appear to be Apple sponsored or approved, and are not - perhaps this is one such?
 
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keysofanxiety said:
You're right, MacWorld did feature it!

They featured it in an article here about how to remove it...

...oh, and also here, in a second update...

...and of course, how to get a refund for MacKeeper due to a class action lawsuit, and because it's "proving to be controversial"...

Mods, please could you consider closing/deleting this thread as I suspect OP is deliberately pushing people's buttons.
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I don't think so. I honestly wanted to know what is so bad about MacKeeper.

But so far and from also looking on another forum the experience of MacKeeper varies from person to person. There we're people in the other forum who hated MacKeeper and others who have never had a problem with it(like me). So what is so bad about MacKeeper?
 
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jwolf6589 said:
I don't think so. I honestly wanted to know what is so bad about MacKeeper. Can you not handle diverse opinions other than yours?

But so far and from also looking on another forum the experience of MacKeeper varies from person to person. There we're people in the other forum who hated MacKeeper and others who have never had a problem with it(like me). So what is so bad about MacKeeper?
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It's not an opinion. You're acting like it is. We've given you plenty of evidence already. It's up to you to disprove this. A quick search for MacKeeper on MR or even Google comes up with a plethera of issues. Even those links I sent you outline a lot of issues with it. It's up to you to disprove this.

And again, this implication that because you've never had a problem with it, it must do some good, is a ludicrous logical fallacy. I can't stress this enough.
 
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keysofanxiety said:
It's not an opinion. You're acting like it is. We've given you plenty of evidence already. It's up to you to disprove this. A quick search for MacKeeper on MR or even Google comes up with a plethera of issues. Even those links I sent you outline a lot of issues with it. It's up to you to disprove this.

And again, this implication that because you've never had a problem with it, it must do some good, is a ludicrous logical fallacy. I can't stress this enough.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the problem lies in the utilities in the app and not in the virus/spyware/Malaware protection which is all I use the app for.
 
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jwolf6589 said:
Perhaps the problem lies in the utilities in the app and not in the virus/spyware/Malaware protection which is all I use the app for.
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Which you get for free, and better, with MWB & Sophos/Avast anyway. So the absolute best case, you're paying for software you don't need to. Worst case, it's as bad as we're all saying.

I'll leave it at that now.
 
jwolf6589 said:
I would like to know what is so bad about MacKeeper. Do we have any hard evidence of its problems? I use MacKeeper but ONLY the virus portion and avoid the other utilities in the app. Yesterday I had a problem which It helped having MacKeeper installed. Without MacKeeper it would have been difficult to diagnose.

People have said it will corrupt my system yet it has not in the 2 or so years I have been using it. So please cite some evidence and not just opinions thanks.
Click to expand...


It corrupts souls and is the work of the Devil. You are an agent of Satan; QED.
 
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