Is MacKeeper a legitimate program?

MacKeeper 911 is the App Store version of MacKeeper. It is not a rip-off of MacKeeper, it's a version that has been limited to allow its inclusion in the App Store. Both are made by the same unethical developer, and both have the potential to do damage (though the App Store version actually has less potential, due to the sandboxing imposed on all apps in the App Store).

You may have chosen to believe that roam's story is the truth, but that does not make it so.

Regardless, why would you pay for something that has the potential to cause damage? Sure, there are some reports from "neutral" users claiming that it hasn't harmed their system -- and, I've seen reports from some who initially had no problems, but which did later develop. It's a real crapshoot.

And even if does no harm, which is highy questionable, almost all its functions can be found in free programs, which are known to be fully compatible with Macs and at least, if not more (mostly more), as effective.

Even if it is completely harmless, I wouldn't want to legitimize or support its unusually aggressive and unethical marketing by purchasing it.

See T. Reed's list of those programs.

http://www.reedcorner.net/beware-mackeeper/

I installed MacKeeper and it did not do what it was supposed to do (restoring deleted files). What it did to was bringing my Mac to a halt. Fortunately, there is good information on the net on how to get rid of it.

And no, you cannot buy it in the AppStore - go and try to find it. (Not in my country version, anyway)

I've had MacKeeper on my iMac and my MacBook Air (and before that my white MacBook) for over 3 years and I've found it to be brilliant. I have never understood the negative comments about it. It has never caused anything amiss to happen to my computers, in fact all the features have helped me to maintain them in a user-friendly way. YES - the light version IS sold in the App Store as 911 for Mac, though I have the full version with anti-virus included. I can only guess that people who have had trouble after installing it would have had issues anyway, and I know for a fact that many people don't know how to uninstall applications properly.

I can honestly recommend it, and if I had a way of getting up on a soap-box and banging a drum for macKeeper I would!

It's SO useful.

I do agree that some people slag it off for no other reason than it seems to be the "in" thing to do.

You really ought to test it yourself before making sweeping statements.

I've used the full version of macKeeper on my beloved macs (iMac, MacBook Air, and before that white mac) and have found it to be a really useful and well designed piece of software.

It has done everything that it claimed to. I think it's sad that it has gained so many negative comments from those who haven't used it, but just quote others.

Oh - and I don't work for Zeobit, and they haven't offered me a job to write this.

I'm English.

I'm sure we're all glad that you haven't had any problems with MacKeeper. However, you should not criticize those who seek to prevent others from having some of the well-documented problems with MacKeeper. (I personally have had a number of people tell me how using MacKeeper to "clean" their Macs ended up causing them to have to reinstall the system. And the same reports are all over.)

I'm sorry if it seemed that I was criticising anyone - I didn't mean it to appear that way. All I'm trying to do is give an honest account of how I and 2 of my friends find MacKeeper - we all like it. I don't actually KNOW anyone who has had trouble with it. And I'm inclined to think (though I have no proof) that satisfied customers don't tend to come on forums to big it up. It can be quite scary going against an angry tide! I only got on here by accident really whilst looking for something else, and decided to finally put my side of the MacKeeper case.

Hello - I just want to put your mind at rest re: MacKeeper. I totally agree with roam, and I have done a lot of research on the internet which backs up the fact that many professional critics like it, but the often savage criticism comes from some of the mac community who may or may not have tried it.

I have used MacKeeper on an iMac and a MacBook Air for the last 2 years and I had it on a white macbook before that. One of my friends has it on an iMac, the other on a white MacBook (both for 2 years, and another friend has just started up with it, (so we can't count her!)

However, NONE of us has ever had any issus with it, but just found it to be a useful and well-designed app.

I have never regretted buying it,and I'm hoping and trusting that I never will.

There are tutorials included in the app, which if followed, make it quite easy to use.

I like MacKeeper - I have used it for quite a long time, along with friends - and no-one is either paying me, bribing me or offering me jobs to say nice things about it. I'm just telling it as I see it - and if MacKeeper wrecks my sysem in the future I will be the first to change my mind about it.....I'll come on here and own up to my mistake!

I totally agree with roam, ...

I try to think independently, and was not recommending this product, nor was I condemming it.

Thomas A Reed in response to my attempted objective research, has said that the developers pay for positive reviews of this software. I have no reason to disbelieve him, for he is a reputable fellow, and consequently this information casts a shadow on any positive review of this product thereafter.

I have no ax to grind in any of this but I do have some personal experience.

I have a MacBookPro using OSX 10.6.8. Earlier this year I bought MacKeeper to help me find duplicate files and delete them so I could gain more space on my hard drive. After several weeks of running MacKeeper, my system crashed. When I took it in to my local Mac repair store, the guy there told me he was getting quite a lot of business from people who had downloaded MacKeeper. He also said my disc was corrupted and it would have to be replaced. Luckily it was still under warranty.

I am still looking for a reliable program that will find duplicate files and is SAFE because there seem to be many duplicates on my system and I would love to gain more space but I am very wary of downloading any other such programs because of this experience. And there are hundreds of programs out there just waitng to get inside your Mac.

Again, this is just my experience with MacKeeper and I certainly do not profess to be an expert in this area.

helenfmb wrote:

I would be imterested in knowing exactly who the developers have paid.

Look in the mirror...

No legitimate user on these forums recommend MacKeeper. There are some that argue that it is not malware (including Thomas), but none recommend installing it. They make you pay what you can do for free, to say the least.

I really believe there's an Anti-Mackeeper Cult!!! I stand by everything I've said. It's always been very useful for me and my friends who have it...and there are many. I'm not a technical expert and I find it very user-friendly, and on a total of 3 devices at the moment it has done everything it claims to do.

It's certainly true that sometimes people here do have unreasoning aversions to certain pieces of software that are undeserving of such ire. In the case of MacKeeper, it has a history of causing problems. Zeobit seems to have put a lot of effort into fixing those issues over the years, and so some of the reasons that people originally disliked MacKeeper are no longer valid.

However, there are still some ethical issues with regard to the company's behavior. They have been known, over the years, to give people compensation of all kinds for positive reviews. As one example, not long ago they offered their users free upgrades in exchange to posting comments on sites like MacUpdate and Download.com. (MacKeeper's rating on those sites went from one star to five stars literally overnight.)

They also registered a domain very similar to a product that competed with them in one area (clamxav.org, similar to the legitimate site clamxav.com) and posted a very misleading "review" of ClamXav followed by a big green Download button that went to the MacKeeper site. (That site is still there, though without the redirection to the MacKeeper site now. It's possible the site may have transferred ownership, but the domain is now managed by a service designed to hide the true ownership of the site, so nobody knows for sure.)

Given these problems, as well as the fact that most of the functions that MacKeeper provides are actually unnecessary, there are some very good reasons why MacKeeper is worth avoiding... whether all the folks in the "Anti-MacKeeper Cult" are aware of such things or not.

For what it's worth here are my observations.

roam is quoting a Cult of Mac article, and Cult of Mac is a reseller of MacKeeper.

The only positive postings from a user (helenfmb) have not identified any specific benefits of MacKeeper.

The only postings with substance and content are critical of MacKeeper and the behavior of the company behind it.

I have no axe to grind here, either. I just came looking because I received an email from Cult of Mac offering a deal on MacKeeper. My conclusion is that, at best, it's a solution looking for a problem.