mac mail disappears

I understand your frustration, but WZZZ for sure read your messages before posting, I think you did not take his comment to heart...MacKeeper IS garbage, no idea if t's related to this problem or not, but it will certainly complicate any cure, please romove all traces of it & realized every single helper here IS indeed trying to help. 🙂

Yes, we need to find out why it was never visible in the first place, that is very strange, but none the less it was there someplace, MacKeeper is a seperate issue, but a problem none the less...

http://lockergnome.net/questions/128664/is-mackeeper-a-virus-or-trojan

MacKeeper – also known as ‘911 Bundle‘ in the App store — yes, you’ve seen the ads all over the internet, pop ups on your favourite webpages, it seems to be everywhere. It must be legit’. Right?

Wrong! Maybe you checked out the website – looks good…if you only give it a cursory glance. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find some of those testimonials are phoney. Like the one that says Macupdate gave MacKeeper a 5-star rating, when in fact it got a 2-star rating and the comments are filled with one person after another complaining about this ‘anti-virus’ program.

OK, don’t feel bad if you fell for it, particularly if you’re new to Mac and don’t know that Macs don’t have virus issues like PCs. If you’ve downloaded MacKeeper you know already the problems it’s causing you, slowing down your machine and throwing up bizarre popups all the time. If you haven’t downloaded it, DON’T! And here’s another warning:

Don’t use the ‘uninstaller’ that they provide !

http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/09/21/how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-malware/

Thanks for this information BDQqua and Wzzz... Is this a concensus that Mackeeper is a virus or is this like a PC vs Mac argument?

I have no idea if MacKeeper is directly responsible for your problem or not, but I wouldn't rule it out, it's an extremely poorly written program. I wouldn't trust it within 100+ miles of my computer. Yes, this appears to be the consensus. Some people have escaped relatively unharmed, but the vast majority of honest reviews are like this (and honest reviews like this are here and all over the place.) When I saw "MacKeeper" in your post, it was like bright flashing red alarm lights and loud bells going off.

I am in no way a “techy,” but, I bought this crap and it did serious damage to my MacBook. It did it very slowly and insidiously. No problems showed up until approx. 3-4 months after downloading it. Then, all **** broke loose. My computer slowed to almost a standstill. I couldn’t click on anything and if I did, it would take several min. to open up links, windows etc. It also caused overheating as my fan was running almost constantly. I had no idea it was my MacKeeper that was causing all of this crap. I finally had to go to the Genius Bar at Apple and they were able to identify that it was causing the trouble. It showed up in my Activity Monitor as a root (whatever the **** that means) with the name “wine.” It never said Zeobit or MacKeeper. Sneaky, sneaky. The Apple guy even had a bit of trouble deleting all of it as it spread like a cancer. Once I got home, my little MacBook was pretty much back to normal. No more downloads for me. Apple guy told me I don’t need anything and I believe him. Save your money. Also, the MacKeeper customer support guy (when I called for tech support one time,) sounded like “Peggy,” the Russian dude from those Capital One commercials. It creeped me out. So, there’s my story with MacKeeper. Stay away. Your computer will be SLOW, hot enough to possibly start a fire and unresponsive.

If you search, there's lots to read, but you might want to start with this.

http://www.reedcorner.net/news.php/?p=245

I have never used Cocktail. Basically, I don't use any of those so called "maintenance" programs, and I think you will find many experienced people here who will agree they're not, for the most part, necessary.

For the rare occasion and only for troubleshooting, not for routine maintenance, there is Onyx, which a number of people swear by, and the one I prefer, Applejack.

Download:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/applejack/

Article on using:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10334620-263.html?tag=mfiredir

Be sure to run the underlined below, as well

It runs in single user mode, where it runs more safely than other maintenance/cleaning programs because there is less chance of interference from the OS. After installing (you won't see it in the Applications Folder) hold CMD-S at startup. You will get a black screen with MS-DOS like text. Just follow the prompts: type in "applejack AUTO" and it will run through the following:

Correct any Disk problems.

Repair Permissions.

Clear out Cache Files.

Repair/check several plist files.

Dump the VM files for a fresh start.

Trash old Log files.

You can also run tasks selectively and for specific users by typing in "applejack." After running in "AUTO," you can go back and run it again as "applejack," steps 3 & 4 only, for your user.

The first reboot will take much longer than usual, as it rebuilds caches. It may take several restarts to see the benefits. Because of the deep cache cleaning in AUTO mode some applications may tell you they are being opened for the first time.

NOT YET UPDATED FOR LION (although it is reported by some that it is working)

(Adapted from post by BDAqua)

Also see Five Mac maintenance myths

http://www.macworld.com/article/133684/2008/06/maintenance_intro.html

As Thomas Reed points out in the blog I linked to -- at least I think he mentions this, I haven't read through that blog in a while -- if you need to run any AV, ClamXav (with a fairly comprehensive catalog of Mac malware) is probably the safest choice. It won't consume system resources, runs only on demand, is completely OS X compatible, unlike many other AV, and can scan discrete areas of your drive. I've never scanned my entire drive with it -- it will take far too long for that and, if anything, probably only turn up Windows malware, which can't be executed on a Mac -- but I have used it on a very few occasions to scan Mail and a few other areas like my user. It may not be necessary -- it has never come up positive for anything -- but I like to have it around just in case.

We all have the same question. Unfortunately, it seems Apple does a rather poor job of vetting programs it offers through the App Store. Before the onset of the App Store, people were often unintentionally mislead into thinking programs at Apple Downloads were endorsed by Apple, which they weren't. With the App Store, programs were supposed to be evaluated thoroughy. If something like this can pass through, then a very strong caveat emptor. Thorough independent research is recommended before downloading or buying non-Apple programs.

There are some who feel the MAS is encouraging a race to the bottom.

It really is hard to know since them slapping BBB labels on their site and such...

If MacKeeper can get one, a BBB label is, obviously, not worth much.

Yeah, MacKeeper is a nasty piece of garbage, I can definitely see it as a possibility.
Here is another (rather long) thread on the dangers of MacKeeper:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3057579?start=0&tstart=0

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