renyay

Q: Does installing MacKeeper void my AppleCare policy?

Hi All,

 

I installed MacKeeper today in an effort to troubleshoot very slow download speeds on my new MacBook Air.

After it 'scanned' my MacBook Air, it crashed. Then I couldn't restart it if it wasn't plugged in. When it did restart I went to delete MacKeeper immediately. The computer crashed again twice before I could sucessfully uninstall it. After that it quit crashing, but would shut down immediatly if I unplugged the power source. Since that I've had mixed results with booting it up while not attached to the power cord or keeping it on when not plugged in. It has booted up when not attached to the power cord, but crashed a few minutes later. Basically if I don't keep the powercord plugged in it may not start, and it will absolutely crash.

 

***? Could MacKeeper really have created this issue? I downloaded it, I let it scan my computer, but I never 'activated' it. From what I've seen I will never use this horrid program again.

But could this also just be a defective battery? The battery problems didn't start until I charged the computer for the first time. I charged it from 9% to 100%.

 

My MacBook is new and under warranty, I'm going to have it looked at tomorrow, but I'm concerned that having downloaded MacKeeper will void my protection plan. Does anyone know if thats true?

Posted on May 18, 2014 8:57 PM

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Q: Does installing MacKeeper void my AppleCare policy?

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  • by renyay,

    renyay renyay May 18, 2014 9:30 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2014 9:30 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123

    Thanks. Was this more an issue with NiMH batteries? In general will letting the battery run low before charging it maintain a good battery life / length of use, or do I not even need to worry about that?

  • by stevejobsfan0123,

    stevejobsfan0123 stevejobsfan0123 May 18, 2014 9:32 PM in response to renyay
    Level 8 (43,987 points)
    iPhone
    May 18, 2014 9:32 PM in response to renyay

    Exactly, Lithium-Ion batteries are not as finnicky as NiMH. It is a good idea to let the battery run low before charging once in a while, but you don't need to do that for every charge.

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R May 19, 2014 2:34 AM in response to renyay
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    May 19, 2014 2:34 AM in response to renyay

    renyay wrote:

    In general will letting the battery run low before charging it maintain a good battery life / length of use, or do I not even need to worry about that?

    Just about everything you need to know about the care & feeding of your MBA's battery can be found at http://www.apple.com/batteries/

     

    Note in particular the "Standard Charging" section explaining what a charge cycle is & the sidebar sections "Hot Tip" & "Exercise Your Machine."

     

    So basically, as long as you don't use your MBA or charge its battery when it is excessively hot, & don't let the MBA sit around without being used for a month or more, you don't have to worry about its charge state when you plug in the charger. If you use it frequently, you do not even have to put it through a complete charge cycle periodically -- that will just (very slightly) reduce its life.

     

    The only thing I can think of missing from the article probably doesn't apply to you: most experts agree that if you are going to store a Li-Ion battery for long periods of time, it should be charged to about 1/2 to 2/3 of its capacity before being put away. That's mostly because a fully charged one is more easily damaged by excessive temperatures than one holding less charge. This is also why your MBA battery (like almost all laptop, iPhone, etc. batteries) was not fully charged when you bought it.

     

    EDIT: Apple does talk about long term storage charge here.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 19, 2014 3:25 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123
    Level 9 (51,311 points)
    Desktops
    May 19, 2014 3:25 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123

    stevejobsfan0123 wrote:

     

    Exactly, Lithium-Ion batteries are not as finnicky as NiMH. It is a good idea to let the battery run low before charging once in a while, but you don't need to do that for every charge.

    I disagree, allowing LiPo batteries to run down to low charge levels is not good for them, try to charge when 50% or so is reached.

  • by stevejobsfan0123,

    stevejobsfan0123 stevejobsfan0123 May 19, 2014 6:55 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 8 (43,987 points)
    iPhone
    May 19, 2014 6:55 AM in response to Csound1

    Check out the page R C-R linked: http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

     

    Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. An ideal use would be a commuter who uses her notebook on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge. This keeps the battery juices flowing. If on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work, and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.

    Depends on the use-case.

  • by PlotinusVeritas,

    PlotinusVeritas PlotinusVeritas May 19, 2014 7:33 AM in response to renyay
    Level 6 (14,806 points)
    May 19, 2014 7:33 AM in response to renyay

    renyay wrote:

    In general will letting the battery run low before charging it maintain a good battery life / length of use

        

     

    thats the quickest way to destroy your battery, running it low. 

     

     

     

    General consideration of your MacBook battery

    batts.jpg

    Contrary to popular myths about notebook batteries, there is protection circuitry in your Macbook and therefore you cannot ‘overcharge’ your notebook when plugged in and already fully charged.


    However if you do not plan on using your notebook for several hours, turn it off (plugged in or otherwise), since you do not want your Macbook ‘both always plugged in and in sleep mode’.

     

    Do not perform “battery calibration” on your current Macbook. There is no calibration of current Apple portable Macbooks with built-in batteries.


    A lot of battery experts call the use of Lithium-Ion cells the "80% Rule", meaning use 80% of the full charge or so, then recharge them for longer overall life. The main quantified damage done in the use of Lithium Ion batteries are instances where the internal notebook battery is “often drained very low”, this is bad general use of your notebook battery.


    All batteries in any device are a consumable meant to be replaced eventually after much time, even under perfect use conditions.

     

    If the massive amount of data that exists on lithium batteries were to be condensed into a simplex, helpful, and memorable bit of information it would be:

     

    1. While realistically a bit impractical during normal everyday use, a lithium battery's longevity and its chemistry's health is most happy swinging back and forth between 20% and 85% charge roughly.

     

    2. Do not purposefully drain your battery very low (10% and less), and do not keep them charged often or always high (100%).

     

    3. Lithium batteries do not like the following:

    A: Deep discharges, as meaning roughly 10% or less. Avoid this in all instances if you can. This is hard on your battery.

    B: Rapid discharges as referring to energy intensive gaming on battery on a frequent basis (in which case while gaming, if possible, do same on power rather than battery).

    C: Constant inflation, as meaning always or most often on charge, and certainly not both in sleep mode and on charge always or often.

     

    From Apple on batteries:

    http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446

    "Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time."

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 19, 2014 9:10 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123
    Level 9 (51,311 points)
    Desktops
    May 19, 2014 9:10 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123

    stevejobsfan0123 wrote:

     

    Check out the page R C-R linked: http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

     

     

    Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. An ideal use would be a commuter who uses her notebook on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge. This keeps the battery juices flowing. If on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work, and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.

     

    Depends on the use-case.

    Nope.

     

    Discharging a Li-Ion battery to very low levels is bad for longevity.

  • by stevejobsfan0123,

    stevejobsfan0123 stevejobsfan0123 May 19, 2014 9:11 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 8 (43,987 points)
    iPhone
    May 19, 2014 9:11 AM in response to Csound1

    So you are disagreeing with Apple's statement?

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 19, 2014 9:13 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123
    Level 9 (51,311 points)
    Desktops
    May 19, 2014 9:13 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123

    Nothing in that statement mentions discharging to a very low level if you can see it, copy and paste it here.

     

    If it dd actually say that then yes, I would disagree, but it doesn't.

  • by renyay,

    renyay renyay May 19, 2014 9:26 AM in response to renyay
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 19, 2014 9:26 AM in response to renyay

    Ok, well thanks everyone. I'll try to avoid lettiing the battery life drop too low before charging; I'm a little confused but it seems like that's what I'm hearing. Was letting it drop to 9% before the initial charge a bad idea?

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 19, 2014 9:32 AM in response to renyay
    Level 9 (51,311 points)
    Desktops
    May 19, 2014 9:32 AM in response to renyay

    renyay wrote:

     

    Ok, well thanks everyone. I'll try to avoid lettiing the battery life drop too low before charging; I'm a little confused but it seems like that's what I'm hearing. Was letting it drop to 9% before the initial charge a bad idea?

     

    Yes, whenever possible keep it above 50%, and as that won't always be possible try not to go below 20%.

     

    And if you need to work beyond that, do so.

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R May 20, 2014 5:15 AM in response to renyay
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    May 20, 2014 5:15 AM in response to renyay

    renyay wrote:

    Was letting it drop to 9% before the initial charge a bad idea?

    No, because an indicated 9% is not actually 9% of its charge capacity. Apple designs their battery powered devices to shut down before their batteries can be drained to a damaging deep discharge state, so in effect the indicator tells you what percent of the battery's charge remains before your MBA will shut down, not the absolute amount of charge left in the battery.

     

    You could shorten the battery's life if you ran it down until the MBA shut down & then left it in that state for a very long time because even li-ion batteries will self-discharge, but they do so so slowly that it could take weeks before that would be a concern.

     

    Apple has done everything possible to maximize battery life for normal use, so as long as you use the MBA normally you have nothing to worry about.

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