is it safe to download the mackeeper?

A number of the users I help support have gotten suckered into installing MacKeeper. Then once they have discovered the error of their way, they attempted to use either the Zeobit uninstaller or one of the app delete programs. Only to discover that MacKeeper was actually worst.

At this point they called me in to help them. It took me a couple of days work to get everything the MacKeeper had done to their systems removed.

So far in all times that I have had to remove MacKeeper, I have found Phil Stokes' procedure to be the best way to get rid of it.

Allan

Thanks Allan,

The thing is that I never installed MacKeeper Instead, I immediately trashed the installer that had downloaded itself without asking. None of the components that Phil Stokes lists are visibly present on my computer. Nonetheless "something" happened that caused Spotlight to start rebuilding its databasa immediately after this incident. Spotlight also doesn't seem to be making much progress as yesterday it estimated that it would take 4 days to rebuild its database while today it estimates 8 days to rebuild it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I performed the procedures you described. After the first procedure Spotlight estimated it would take 20 minutes to complete indexing of the my Mac Pro's two internal HDs (one a 600 GB VelociRaptor, the other the stadard issue WD 640 GB that came with the computer). After a while it modified its estimate to four hours. I then performed the second step you suggested. Now Spotlight estimates that it will take three days to finish indexing the drives. I think I was better off with step 1 alone and may repeat it. Also there is one other odd thing, apparently unrelated. When starting from the VelociRaptor the MacPro no longer makes the familiar boing sound - - except when one uses the 640 GB OEM drive as a startup drive and then designates the VRaptor as the startup drive and restarts. Other than this recent problem with Spotlight - - which as I said began immediately after the incident with MacKeeper - - the MacPro has been performing without any anomalies. (I'm running OS 10.7.4 but the lack of boing started earlier while I was running OS 10.6.8.)

I have never had a need for this type program and ive been a mac user since 1984. I have found that third party software such as Norton which i tried is more trouble than its worth.

Also remeber every time Apple updates their OS you will have to update this.

IF YOU SEE ADS THAT POP UP WHILE BROWSING NEVER ACCEPT THEM WITHOUT FIRST SEARCHING THE REVIEWS EXTENSIVELY IN GOOGLE OR BING OR WHATEVER>>

ALSO IF YOU ARE USING A MAC YOU SHOULD NEVER NEED ANY VIRUS SOFTWARE AS APPLE ALREADY HAS THIS COVERED AND INCLUDES THEM IN YOUR SOFTWARE UPDATES AT NO COST TO YOU!!!

TO EVERY UNFORTUNATE SOUL WHO DOWNLOADED MACKEEPER I AM SORRY FOR YOUR MISFOURTUNE BUT YOU SHOULD LEARN FROM THAT MISTAKE AND NEVER EVER DOWNLOAD ANYTHING FROM THE INTERNET WITHOUT FIRST RESEARCHING EVERY DETAIL, REVIEW ETC FIRST!

also never go to any website link with a link address that starts with anything you do not reckognize

for example above ''tecapp101 posted a link,, that is a bad link do not go there!!''

i know this without clicking on it by reading the link address

key words which were obvious to me were "DOWNLOAD" and "MACKEEPER"

also the username is suspisious..

BE SMART PEOPLE, NEVER DOWNLOAD ANYTHING FROM THE INTERNET WITHOUT FIRST DOING YOUR HOMEWORK!

AND NEVER DOWNLOAD ANYTHING IN A POP UP!!

potential investor (quite the name there) - I am one who can testify. Testify, brother! 🙂 I completely fell for it last year. I downloaded it, installed it. it did NOTHING. My Mac system already was capable of doing what it said it was doing. I was totally useless and slowed my computer to a crawl. Luckily, I did some research (NOW I do research) and was able to completely remove it. Amazingly, my computer actually got faster and I have had not one issue with whatever Mackeeper was supposed to help prevent. So, yeah, Mackeeper is useless and unnecessary. It is also the single more persistant, aggrevation, constant pop-ups I have EVER seen.

One more note, three times now the Mackeeper setup file downloaded to my download folder without my accepting it. I have no clue how they managed this. Fortunately, I saw it in my downloads screen and deleted them immediately. They must think I am nuts if they think I am clicking on their installation file just because it downloaded. How do they get away with this???

My addendum to your post is to not only never download from a popup, but watch your download folder for anything that suddenly appears and DELETE it immediately. Don't even think about clicking it to find out what it is. That would be foolhardy at best. 🙂

One more note, three times now the Mackeeper setup file downloaded to my download folder without my accepting it. I have no clue how they managed this.

That's not a difficult trick at all. Any JavaScript can initiate a download to your Downloads folder. Of course, legit apps don't cause their installers to be downloaded automatically by their advertisements, but Zeobit has repeatedly shown willingness to stoop to all kinds of lows in their marketing.

My addendum to your post is to not only never download from a popup, but watch your download folder for anything that suddenly appears and DELETE it immediately.

Very wise advice indeed. I recommend keeping the Downloads folder completely empty so that you can more easily spot such illicit downloads.

Yes, I monitor my downloads folder constantly and always keep it clear. And, that is so true that a legitimate application would not need to find ways to get on your system unless you want it there.

What surprises me is that Zeobit can stay in business with this abhorent marketing startegy. Well, I guess it shouldn't surprise me. All we can do is keep putting the word out there to avoid them at all costs. (Or your costs will be unavoidable. Ha Ha)

What surprises me is that Zeobit can stay in business with this abhorent marketing startegy.

Unfortunately, that doesn't surprise me at all. They are very aggressive marketers, and they resort to some pretty underhanded tricks to make a sale.

Worse, there are people out there who don't understand the first thing about their computers who install MacKeeper and don't have problems. (Likely because they're not exploring many of the options and are for the most part not poking their system excessively with the sharp-stick-that-is-MacKeeepr.) They can become firmly convinced, with no actual data to back them up, that MacKeeper is keeping their system running well, when the Mac OS maintains itself and would be running well anyway. Plus, they have no grounds for comparison, and don't know that the OS could be running better without MacKeeper. These folks speak up in defense of MacKeeper, muddying the waters.

I think that for people who are just out of the novice catagory, but not experts (I put myself in that catagory) we have all at some point downloaded these different 'clean up' utilities.

I remember about 6 years ago getting my first Mac.. a G5 Power Mac. One of the first things I did was load it up with all these so called 'utilities' that promised to make my machine better in some way. The big advert was "clean it up".. Spring Clean, Onyx were two that I can remember.

I had nothing but trouble and on several occasions had to re-load OSx to get out of trouble.

My advise to all people new to Macs is LEAVE IT ALONE!!.. let the wonderful OSx operating system do what it was designed to do and it will run forever! Don't waste your time or money on any of the utilities.. thank goodness Mackeeper wasn't around 6 years ago else I would certainly have been one of those people who downloded it.

Now.. I'm going to say something controversial here and that is that I personally group Disk Warrior in with this crowd. I say this because it also managed to totally destroy my Tiger operating system at the time. I've heard great things said about it on this forum. I think that it is probably an OK tool but you need to keep it 100% up to date and don't use it just after a major update from apple. Give Alsoft time to catch up.

But with OSx these days I don't think that you need ANYTHING apart from having a good backup plan! 🙂

At least that is the way it worked for the users I support who downloaded it. Once they starting using it, I could not get it off their Mac fastest enough to suit them. I don't drop a couple remarks about you really should be more careful what you download.

Allan

I downloaded this some time ago, and I have beeb having a multitude of problems with my MacBook. In frustration I stumbled on this thread, and decided to uninstall the software.

Well blow me sideways, it's like I have a new Mac!

If ony I had researched more first :/ Live and learn!

DO NOT INSTALL THIS AWFUL SOFTWARE!!

I have been look for books and download books, and in most cases the site redirects me to this bs software "MacKeeper" in majority of instances. Finally I decided to google "mackeeper reviews" and found you guys. Fortunately I have not downloaded it, never looked for such software to begin with let alone shoved down my throat. I read some of the comments regarding this getting downloaded without them knowing it. Well, There is a way. You need to go into your systems preferences and set up your preferences, so anytime there is a download to ask for your permision before downloading it. That has helped me a lot, b/c this shet was doing the same thing, and I kept cancelling it everytime. Nothing gets automatically downloaded without my permision. If you are a beginner, you need to either sign up for the $99 course that Apple offers or play around with it till you are able to set up your preferences without getting lost. I am no expert, I have been learning it through trial and error. My first advice is to never download anything you don't know anything about. Don't get suckered in b/c it is "Free". There is a reason why it is free, and you get what you pay for.

I have Mac desktop, and HP laptop. A couple of months ago, I got a malware on my laptop through a "free" download from Znet site(I will never download anything from their site again). It was one of those deals when they "bundle" them up without really telling you what else is in the "bag". It was Wajam, if you heard of it. And just like Mackeeper, they have hired a marketing guy who monitors these sites and jumps in to tell you "oh, it is not a virus but it is a legit program and it is suppose to ...." It took over my browsers without asking me, then

had extensions attached to multiple programs where I could not uninstall it. It took me 24 hours to figure it out.

After that I learned my lesson. I went to the NIST site and downloaded their recommendation on how to protect a home network, and mobile devices. Now, I have both my systems armed to the teeth.

Stay away from anybody who drops in unannounced and uninvited!!!

Just to fill in, it is now months since I cleaned out my machine of MacKeeper. Again in fairness they did give me a refund without any quibble. My machine is working fine without it, I rely just on the Apple updates and so on and it is fine. Despite some dodgy websites being clicked on by me once or twice.

Well users of MacKeeper such as you are few and far between. The vast majority have much less favorable experiences such as the two who posted before you.

So far I have not been suckered into installing myself but I have help a number of people I help to support remove it from their system after it started causing them grief. After doing that for them, I sort of figured that was close enough for me and I have made it one of the applications I am going to stay far, far away from for as long as I can.

Allan