Is MacKeeper a legitimate program?

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT click on anything to do with MacKeeper.

THOMAS A REED, you are right on. The MacKeeper pop up ads I keep getting on line are a scam. Do not click on the link or in anyway acknowledge them. It took an hour with the help of Applecare to find all the junk they downloaded to my computer. There could still be more damage but not aware of it yet. There was no menton of a fee or request to download. No mention of a program. I got pop up ads that covered the whole desk top, some were ****. Everytime I went back to the page I had been viewing when I clicked on the MacKeeper ad I got the same flood of new pages with ads.

Not only that the email I sent to a friend with a link to the page I was viewing corrupted her computer as well. Her son is still trying to fix the problem. The corrumption resets dates to 2007, leaves scrambled pages when first going on line and erased her Kaspersky software. I am a Mac user. She is not and they still managed mess up her computer.

Satan is just one click away.

All Previous Arguments aside.

Here is my point (T.Reed) and do not go wining to moderators cause you dont like it or help cause however my last post was removed. You may have not

Tell me this. If i decided to make some malware that looks like an Apple authorized download and people started downloading it and having problems... Does that mean that apple product illegitimate? NO.

It makes me a malware-wolf but apple maintains its legitimacy. On another forum i remember people being skeptical of Apple updates and their new os releases because they thought it would throw their systems off. But Apple is still legit and other than versioning their system os is nearly flawless to me.

I have not seen any definitive testing that proves MK is bad. It didn't bother my computers ever. It seems more like a hunch than a semi-definitively tested estimation.

If a person got a bunch of stuff on their computer that they either didn't know was there or seemingly started when they downloaded an app. That doesn't prove that it came from MacKeeper anymore than it came from time machine. There are no points of entry data notes / Timeline that can show that these suddenly discovered files are from what mackeeper is doing or not doing.

All there are on the web is opinions. Who has tested this to give some true way of quantifying it. The extra sexy new macpro cylinder has definitive analysis on its performance. It has comparisons to the current macpros. Thats definitive enough for anyone.

Is it possible that you Thomas Reed could do such a test that shows exactly what your test system looked like before install of MK and what it looks like after running MK for a given period?

Is there a way of proving that these changes in your system performance were caused by MK?

Unlike Lukian who installed MacKeeper I did not agree to or knowingly install anything from them. MK managed to corrumpt my system. Simply clicking on their link got me full screen pages with ads and who knows what else. As if that were not enough, I passed a virus on to a friend's PC. I immediately called Applecare to help uninstall what turned out to be two files. One was MacKeeper and the second one used 911 as part of its name. My friend got help to get rid of a virus.

My imagination or just an opinion? The full screen ads including dirty one (can't use the p word on this site) are gone and my computer is back to normal. That is enough proof for me that MacKeeper is junk in whatever form it seems to appear.

Again, beware, Satan is just one click away.

For what it's worth, I thought I'd share my experiences with MacKeeper here.

I've been using MacKeeper for at least five years on three different computers and if it's caused me problems, I'm unaware... I use it mainly for the Fast Cleanup, which does successfully clear up space on my HD (I know this could be done in other ways, but this is quick and easy). I'm satisfied with the program (though now a bit nervous, after seeing what I have here).

I did, at one point, receive an email from Zeobit, saying that there had been a smear campaign about MacKeeper and that if we could post a positive review, we'd receive a free license on a new computer, I think it was (not money). I definitely see how this is still an unethical marketing practice, but no one was being paid to say good things... just rewarded with the product they're already using... So, if they were dissatisfied, they obviously wouldn't do it, since they wouldn't want an additional license or upgrade to the product.

In any case, I'll be doing further research now, because I'm nervous about the product, but my personal experience has been fine. Those are my two cents.

Yup

The first beta-version of MacKeeper 0.8 was released on May 13, 2010, the second release on October 26, 2010. The MacKeeper 2012 version was released on January 30, 2012 at Macworld – iWorld in San Francisco, California. MacKeeper 2.0. included updates in security, data control, cleaning and optimization features.^[1]

I don't know how noelsd managed to use it 2 years before it was released. But I have become used to Mackeeper's supporters having a dim grasp of reality.

Now that's amusing! But I've had a sense there are many socks in this room.

Another thing about noelsd's comment, as well as some of the other positive comments about MK, is that it misses one of the main points. I don't use MacKeeper, and don't intend to try, so I really don't care if someone likes it. My complaint with MacKeeper/Zeobit/or whatever it's called this month is that they hijack link clicks to send me to their website. Interesting that a company selling a product purported to clean up my system should implant something malicious in my system.

I think that the post is writen wrong based on orbors response.

If they hijack links it doesn't mean that the program is not legt. It just means that their marketing practices are questionable. thats says nothing about software usability.

If a person is not having problems then how would you expect to beable to tell them that "yeah they are having problems"? Maybe, i do see it cause of all of the little extra programs that run or maybe because it is not doing anything harmful.

the other thing is how do you complain about a software they you have never used or only used for a little bit. Its like saying that restaurant has horible food and then saying "but i have never ate there".

Wow, you're a fun crowd.

Of course, I would make a mistake. I purchased my Macbook Pro in September 2010, and I could've sworn that I was using Mackeeper before that on my old Macbook, which was running slowly and severely lacking in hard drive space at that point, but I guess I was wrong. So shoot me, it happens. There's no need to attack me personally when I wasn't even singing praises about the program... just sharing my experience, which was fine, and yes, confirming that bribery does indeed occur.

@orbor - Again, I was just sharing my own experience, but if they're hijacking link clicks, that's not cool (if it is, in fact them). This hasn't happened to me, but if it did and if it's true, then they suck.

Is there something I should look for on my computer to show that this program is, in fact, having a detrimental effect?

noelsd wrote:

Is there something I should look for on my computer to show that this program is, in fact, having a detrimental effect?

I doubt it's worth the trouble, but Csound1's suggestion is the only way I know.

You can read about some of the issues here, although in my experience with helping others troubleshoot there haven't been nearly as many problems as there were say a year or more ago. Early versions used an anti-virus process that took over the computer, but that has been totally replaced and seems to be more effective at finding OS X related malware. There were also complaints of it disabling software applications in the process of "eliminating unnecessary code" which haven't been recent complaints. A very few indicated that it disabled their system, but again not recently.

MadMacs0 wrote:

I doubt it's worth the trouble, but Csound1's suggestion is the only way I know.

You can read about some of the issues here, although in my experience with helping others troubleshoot there haven't been nearly as many problems as there were say a year or more ago. Early versions used an anti-virus process that took over the computer, but that has been totally replaced and seems to be more effective at finding OS X related malware. There were also complaints of it disabling software applications in the process of "eliminating unnecessary code" which haven't been recent complaints. A very few indicated that it disabled their system, but again not recently.

Ah, yes, I've never turned on the anti-virus option, so I couldn't speak to that. Maybe that's why I never had issues.

Hi,

I have MacKeeper -- (Version 2.6.1) 2013 Kromtech Alliance Corp.) -- on my IMac. Though I've kept the latest versions up-to-date, I've rarely used any of its programs.

I am wondering is "Kromtech Alliance Corp." different from ZeoBit? Have any of the "latest updates" done anything to make this a decent application?

Lastly what do you think of DiskTools Pro? Does this app do as much or more than MacKeeper? Is it safer?

I've had 2 hard drive failure within the last 8 months (Sea Gate 1TB) which Apple replaced under warranty -- not that this has anything to do ??? with anything, but I can't afford to have my Mac messed up again for obvious reasons.

Many thanks for any input out there . . .

I am wondering is "Kromtech Alliance Corp." different from ZeoBit?

Theoretically, yes. Zeobit sold MacKeeper to Kromtech not long ago. However, it's odd that the mackeeper.kromtech.net site redirects to mackeeper.zeobit.com, rather than the other way around. Makes me wonder if this is all just a marketing ploy, and they're both owned by the same company. (I should note that that is just a question I have pondered, not anything that I have any reason to believe is true. I cannot find any evidence to support that idea.)

Since it's still the same flawed app, I'd still recommend against it. We'll see if Kromtech does anything different with it.

Lastly what do you think of DiskTools Pro? Does this app do as much or more than MacKeeper? Is it safer?

I've never used DiskTools Pro, but some of the things it does are similarly unuseful. Defragmentation, for example, is not something you should be doing frequently - or, for most people, ever - on Mac OS X, as Mac OS X does defragmatation on its own in the background as files are written to the hard drive. In general, any time someone is selling a utility that does something that is completely unnecessary, I have to question that.

Kudcubfa wrote:

Heres a good article. I have it and use it and so far no problems.

http://www.cultofmac.com/170522/is-mackeeper-really-a-scam/

That is generally considered to be an extremely biased article, probably paid for by Zeobit.

Well, I can say with certainty I'm not biased. I was given a MacBook as a gift but also use pc's for work and at home. I'm neither a "fanboy" or part of whatever cult I keep seeing in these discussions.

So, in my humble, non technical and casual opinion, the software is great. Not a bit of trouble.

I will say this, there is a lot of creepy "conspiracy theory" feel to this whole discussion. I expect the comic book guy to jump in any second with "worst-software-ever!"

The fact that you haven't had any trouble does not mean that MacKeeper has done anything beneficial for you, and certainly doesn't mean that it will never cause you problems. It also does not, in any way, address the numerous legitimate concerns with MacKeeper that have been mentioned throughout the year-long history of this discussion.