Hi Linc,
MacKeeper (http:// macke eperapp.zeo bit. cxm)
has hijacked my Safari browser. I clicked on a link, to go to a website (non MacKeeper), and the window opened for MacKeeper, with a popup to let MacKeeper clean my mac. The ONLY option is to click "ok", which I refuse to do, because I know almost all of these "cleaner" apps are malware, with stroke counting files.
Now, there is NO WAY to get out of it. When it first started, I panicked, and pushed the power button, because it froze all the tabs and safari functions. I thought when I turned my computer back on, MacKeeper would be gone. WRONG! I can't do anything in Safari. I am guessing MacKeeper figures people will eventually get frustrated, and give in, clicking the button, and allowing them onto the hard drive. I REFUSE!!!
So essentially, MacKeeper has hijacked my browser. I then thought maybe I could delete Safari and then reinstall, but Lion won't let me, since it is one of the basic Mac software packages on Lion. So, I am currently using FireFox, but would really rather use Safari. But, DO I? I was using Safari, because I thought it would protect me from such Mac malware, and it was just such malware that has hijacked my Mac Safari browser.
I went to the Phil Stokes link, that you gave, but since I never installed it, or let it install itself, it isn't on my hard drive. So, none of the Phil Stokes instructions work for me. I tried going to the Applications Library, and there is no MacKeeper folder there.
I can't do what you suggested, because when I click on Safari, on the menu bar, everything on the dropdown box is grayed out by MacKeeper. So, clicking on Preferences is not an option. GRRR!!!
I won't allow MacKeeper to install itself on my hard drive, because I know from a bad experience with Zone Alarm on my old Windows PC, that these apps can hide codes, way deep into the workings of the computer, and make it almost impossible to totally erradicate the files from your computer once they are there. You might think you are deleting, or "uninstalling" it from your hard drive, but those nasty files are still there doing their dastardly business. It took me three hour, on the phone, with a support tech, going deeper and deeper into the workings of the computer, and there it was . . . a "stop code". Once it was deleted, the problem went away.
Do you have any suggestions for how I can get MacKeeper off my browser, without letting it install itself on my hard drive? I am at my wits end, and am worried that Safari is lost to me forever! I have a hard time understanding how Mac can allow MacKeeper on it's app store! What are they thinking, letting malware to be sold on their app store???