MacKeeper is actually okay now
Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t MacKeeper that spammy, invasive security software that ends up doing more harm than good? The answer is yes - at least it was. Long story short, I noticed some positive reviews popping up on legitimate websites, and I was curious enough to give it a try.
TechRadar gave it 3.5 out of five stars.
https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/mackeeper-5
MacWorld gave it three stars.
https://www.macworld.co.uk/review/mackeeper-5-review-3804173/
PCMag.com was less positive, but didn’t say MacKeeper was scareware like it used to be.
https://uk.pcmag.com/antivirus/127035/mackeeper
I’ve never actually used MacKeeper before, but I remember reading articles like this one, saying to remove it.
https://www.imore.com/removing-mackeeper-your-mac
So I was surprised to see its name appearing on websites like Techradar. I googled ‘MacKeeper’, and saw this article, about how MacKeeper has cleaned up its act. Apparently, it’s under new management and has been notarized by Apple.
I went digging a bit more, and found MacKeeper is also certified. It’s got both AV-Test and ISO 27001 certification, according to the MacKeeper blog.
Anyway, having read all this, I thought I’d give it a go. You can download it for free and use each feature once, but I wanted to test it properly. I didn’t want to sign up for a long time, so I took a one month plan for £10.95. That’s not cheap, but it’s not the most expensive I’ve seen either.
Installing it was easy, and it didn’t seem to slow down my MacBook at all. I did see a kind of chat box thing on the side of the MacKeeper app, which made me panic a bit. I thought maybe it would start spamming me with scary messages like the old MacKeeper apparently did to people. That never happened, though, and you can just hide the chat box, which is actually just a built-in support thing.
Looking through all the tools, MacKeeper can do all sorts of things. It’s an antivirus app, but it’s a VPN too. And it’s got features like cache cleaning, ad blocking and duplicate file finding.
I’ve had MacKeeper for a few days now, and I’ve tried all the features out. The antivirus seems to work okay, completing a scan in a couple of minutes. I’m not sure about the cache cleaning stuff - I’ve used cleaning apps in the past and I’ve never really been impressed by them. The same goes for memory cleaners, including the one in MacKeeper.
The VPN is pretty good. The servers aren’t the fastest I’ve ever used, but they’re okay, considering they come included in the price.
I like the duplicates finder, which can also find images that are similar but not the same. The Smart Uninstaller is good too, because it helps you remove files that apps leave behind when you just delete them from the Applications folder.
There’s still room for improvement, like it could do with virus scan scheduling and ransomware protection. The interface is very basic too, so it’s probably best for beginners. I like it, though, and it does seem to be a legitimate app.
I haven’t decided whether I’ll keep it after a month. It’s half the price if I commit to a year, so I might do.
Anyway, just thought I’d share because I thought it was interesting how they seem to have turned it around.
