Is MacKeeper a legitimate program?

Eric Nelson2 wrote:

We'll see how they reply to that.

I imagine they will blame it on the advertising aggregator service they contract with, like most other sites have told us in the past. They have very little control over the actual content of of what is served to them in rotation. I suppose if they get enough complaints they will push back on that service, but in most cases these sites don't have any contact with the companies that are being advertised.

The mac school, quoted (2012)

"I am surprised that MacKeeper has not been hit by a class action law suit yet."

http://themacschool.blogspot.com/2012/09/mackeeper-is-scam.html

There is also a piece quoted from Reed where you can REALLY see the level of disgustingness of MacKeeper.

I sent Speedtest [dot] net a similar e-mail, probably more than a year ago at this point. They were similarly unwilling to hear what I said. I have since stopped using them entirely, and no longer recommend them to anyone else.

All my speed testing now is done with:

http://speedof.me

This site has no ads, and also has the advantage of not being Flash- or Java-based. It's pure HTML, so it works on anything, and requires no plugins.

Thomas, just a FYI about speeddofme. I tried it a few times and it consistently returned what I thought were inflated results (not saying that is deliberate, just may be in the nature of the program.)

If you don't want to use speedtest.net, there are any number of other Flash based options that don't appear to have the MacKeeper ads--at least I haven't heard of there being any on these. It's impossible for me to know just what advertsing there may be, since I use a AdBlockPlus, which is very effective at keeping out all ads. I've never seen an MK ad on speedtest.net.

I'm sure you know about all of these, but as a just in case and for anyone else reading this thread.

http://my.verizon.com/services/speedtest/

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?flash=1

I'll keep using them as I never see the ads unless I turn off adblock or use their iphone app, but I understand. I've not been burned by the MK app so I've no grudge per se, but as I told them in my first note to them:

"As a legitimate and respected site, you might want to reconsider having MacKeeper as a prominent advertiser."

So they will have to rethink their relationship assuming it's within their abilty to change as MadMacs0 mentioned the aggregator possibilty.

Ok so, ...

With my having read through much of the discussion—both here within this particular thread, and also elsewhere here—regarding this resource, or "resource alleged" ...

And with the over-all consensus evidently being that its highly suspect of being mal-aligned with a more correct approach where considering both the spirit of "Macintosh", or either what it purports to "do"—where considering its different main elements, ...

{.. And / And If with, my in fact having purchased the program about a year ago, my having noted only one problem that it may have contributed to / generated, more application related for me over that time; .. this, with where otherwise looked at its not appearing to have slown down my broader general operations .. speed wise, ...}

.. As opposed to the main scan and "fix" that it does more generally (Which I had, trusted more certainly, before having read through what I have here—again both above and elsewhere here.), ...

What's the main application of choice being put forward at this point (i.e. more "these days", whether here or elsewhere), usable toward doing / running this kind of more routine type maintenance check of things on my machine. ?

— i.e. Some kind of "scan and fix", general clean-up, general health check, of my 2009 dual core "iMac", still running "Snow Leopard" / 10.6.8 more specifically. ... ?

Appreciate your time.

What's the main application of choice being put forward at this point (i.e. more "these days", whether here or elsewhere), usable toward doing / running this kind of more routine type maintenance check of things on my machine. ?

— i.e. Some kind of "scan and fix", general clean-up, general health check, of my 2009 dual core "iMac", still running "Snow Leopard" / 10.6.8 more specifically. ... ?

None are required.

Lanny wrote:

None are required.

.. "defragmentation". ?

"Junk files" ? ( .. as referred to by this program.)

— I've in fact had trouble with these things / ideas in the past, on and with older systems.

Has "'Apple" addressed these issues more general perhaps at some point along the line since: .. perhaps with the main transition to OS X, or with that from one of its earlier main versions to the next previous to "Snow Leopard". ?

.. I've recently read about, "Clean App" (was it. ?), suitable for different odd elements of different Apps, left behind with and after their respective (more general) "uninstallation". So this idea, I'm not too concerned with here.

I've referred to "Clean App" here above.

.. Beyond what you've said more succinctly (?) here.

Are you (Or is anyone else here.) aware of any main "Apple" based literature online, addressing the transition that I've suggested here above.

This idea, or either (Either whether "Apple" based, or otherwise.) that of "Junk files"—beyond those "left behind" - my words, if also as pointed to by the main resource in question here—post an "uninstallion" of an unwanted application previously of interest.

There are 3 apps that are helpful on a Mac.

Disk Utility, already on your machine.

Onyx, free

DiskWarrior, kinda pricey but when you need it you REALLY need it .

These all do different things although Onyx will repair permissions as does Disk Utility.

Defragging looks cool as it's happening, all your files getting in order in the GUI of the app and all that, but I've never noticed a performace diff afterwards and nowadays with SSD drives and hybrids, you DO NOT want to defrag them.

So the defrag process will become passé soon.

...

Again, appreciate the different and various ideas and perspectives here above.

So alright, .. with my having taken in what's been both said and pointed to, …

Where considering it or beyond—including what's been said or pointed to previously above within this thread / sub-forum about "MacKeeper", …

What's the general view / consensus, on .. the best way to "extricate" ones self from, "delete", "uninstall" .. this "program", … these days.

— I've brought up "Clean App" above with my general inquiry here with having seen it mentioned pointed to as one application perhaps useful toward this idea further above.

— Two posts above here, Steve HC19has pointed to an article having listed "AppCleaner" as a "Smart Uninstaller".

.. Any advice, opinions, experiences more anecdotal here, more specific or general, regarding either of these two resources. ?

From the article pointed to by Steve HC19above, ...

... MacKeeper had, for the longest time, made their soft extremely hard to remove, always leaving crumbs behind …. It took over 2 years [for them] to finally bend to the pressure and do something about [this idea] and provide an uninstaller.

— Is this an option any where near to reliable. ?

.. Again, just looking for the best approach here.

From the article pointed to by Steve HC19above, ...

... MacKeeper had, for the longest time, made their soft extremely hard to remove, always leaving crumbs behind …. It took over 2 years [for them] to finally bend to the pressure and do something about [this idea] and provide an uninstaller.

— Is this an option any where near to reliable. ?

I remember all this as if it were yesterday and I am certain that it didn't take them over 2 years to provide their first installer, which launched as soon as you put the app in the trash.

As I recall users objected to having to enter their admin password at that point in order for the uninstaller to work. They felt they were giving their password to ZeoBIT, when in fact all they were really doing was telling the OS that it was OK to de-install files that required and admin password to install.

It was also alleged that it left something behind which caused pop-up ads all the time, but I don't believe that was ever proven.

For several months prior to that uninstaller you had to call customer support to get instructions on what needed to be removed, followed by a listing on their support site of these files. Since the application itself was in a constant state of updates, they didn't always keep up with the names and locations of those files.

My impression is that everybody that was willing to call and ask for a credit to their card received it.

richard583a wrote:

What's the general view / consensus, on .. the best way to "extricate" ones self from, "delete", "uninstall" .. this "program", … these days.

Depends which version of MK you're dealing with. If it's MacKeeper 2012 or later, their uninstaller will do the job. Instructions are here:

http://help.mackeeper.zeobit.com/Manual/GettingStarted/UninstallingMacKeeper.htm l

If you're dealing with an older version of MK, you might want to visit my comprehensive instructions here.

Here is the official home page:

http://mackeeper.zeobit.com/

I do notrecommend installing it, even just to "try". Although it does more or less what it claims to do, the benefits are far outweighed by the negatives.

Yes you can get all the app's and protection provided by MacKeeper for free. Frankly I don't have the time or inclination to spend my time downloading, running, updating, etc etc if I wanted to do that I'd go back to PC.

I've run MacKeeper on all my Mac's since 2008 and it does the jobs I need perfectly, the latest version 3.0 is even better and so much cheaper. Security and ease of maintenance is key for me, MacKeeper gives me peace of mind and their Geek Online service is first class, quickly sorting out all sorts of Apple and third party software issues. I give it ★★★★★

Don't be folled by the fact that they agressively market themselves, I figure since their not in the App Store they have more to spend targeting potenetial Customers just like you, it neither proves or disproves anything about the quality of their offering.