Q: Is MacKeeper a legitimate program?

.. Appreciate the advice.

I got really burned by a "Language Cutter" once when they first came out. It disabled at least half a dozen applications causing some of them not to run at all and others to refuse to update until I removed them and replaced them from source.

--  NEVER remove English.  As for the other languages, it's mainly your call. I don't need Klingon or Swahili.

-- After 5 years of intensive use,  my trusted MBP had almost no fragmentation, hence I can concur with the previously mentioned "Do not attempt to defrag your Mac (running OS X)

As mentioned previously, here is a list of "replacement", most of them are freeware or donationware. I highly recommend Prey Project. (Because I really like my MBP)

I have omitted Onyx because it has already been mentioned already a 1000 times.

Anti-Theft / Recovery (Free)

Prey Project

AntiVirus (Free)

Sophos Free Mac Edition

Languages (Free)

Monolingual

Encryption

Disk Utility, FileVault (OS X)

FileVault2 (10.7, 10.8)

TrueCrypt     (Free)  (For Advanced Users)

Backup

Time Machine (OS X)

Carbon Copy Cloner

SuperDuper

DropBox

Shredder

Secure Delete (OS X)

Drive Genius 3

Permanent Eraser

Wise / Smart Uninstaller

AppCleaner (Free)

File Finder

Finder OS X (Use the options, you silly!)

File Finder

Duplicate

Finder

DupeGuru (Fairware)

Drive Genius 3

Geek On Demand (With Premium)

Apple Store (No Premium)

Google (No Premium)

ZeoDisk

  iCloud

DropBox

(hey, pss, did you know that you can install more than one instance of Dropbox? yes!, that's 20GB each for free)

Login Items & Default Apps

Really?  OS X by default ... 

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

I'll check these. Thanks.

...

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 HC19 has 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 HC19 above, ...

... 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.

Lets take care of the easy part first. Install, update, and uninstall apps obtained from the AppStore. That's because such applications are required to be self-contained, so they don't scatter support files all over the place. Hopefully that will become more and more common as time goes on.

But there will likely always be some applications that cannot abide by Apple's AppStore rules and will use the traditional method with Installers or "First Run" code that installs multiple support files. It will never approach what it is on a PC, but that's generally what is at the root of the issues you seem to be concerned about.

If you decide that you no longer want to use a non-AppStore app then you should ALWAYS check first with the developer for instructions on doing so. I have found that a huge majority of developers have such information and often will provide some automated way of doing this. And the majority of these developers keep this information up-to-date and it's the most reliable way of removing all of the files that could cause you issues after removal as well as all of the files that use a significant amount of disk space. You will find some (many?) that will leave a preference file, but I find that to be useful when I just want to refresh the application with a clean install and not have to remember all the preferences I set or find the serial number. They take up such an insignificant amount of space, don't use any CPU cycles and have never been known to do any harm.

There are some (MacKeeper has already been mentioned and there's some adware called Genieo is another) that for whatever reason are incomplete. These are few and far between, but just know that they aren't all perfect in this respect.

Next are the uninstall helper apps such as AppDelete, AppZapper, AppCleaner and others who's names I have forgotten. These all work in basically the same way and none are perfect. They simply search your drive for files that contain the same name as the application and/or developer and offer to gather them up when you Trash the Application. Since this also happens each time you update an application, I find myself declining the opportunity to trash support files an order of magnitude more often than approving such offers. I can do exactly the same thing that these apps do when I need to by using the free utility EasyFind (which I believe is what Steve was referring to above as File Finder) or my favorite Find Any FIle (now $8 at the AppStore). These utilities will often miss files that have been installed that do not contain the app or developer name, for a variety of reasons.

The last catagory seems to be the one you are most interested in. There are only a couple of utilities that I know of that will observe the installation and/or operation of an application and record the files that are associated with it, CleanMyMac2 ($40) and CleanApp ($15). They both have other features in addition to their uninstaller.  CleanApp also claims to receive incorporate feedback from other users on files missed or taken by mistake.  I have to admit that even though I have installed both of these temporarily to browse through, I have not used either to do anything except remove themselves. I believe that they should do a much more thorough job of cleaning up after a sloppy application, but have no way of knowing for myself, nor have I seen any detailed, independent reviews comparing all these apps. The disadvantage is that they are somewhat more expensive than the ones mentioned above and must have a helper app running at all times and before any other installations take place.

A couple of other people have published works on alternative utilities which you would probably benefit from reading:

Randy Singer's Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance.

Thomas Reed's Beware MacKeeper!.

From the article pointed to by Steve HC19 above, ...

 

... 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.

...

Right. .. Appreciate your having pointed to this distinction.

And, check.

Thanks.

I couldnt seen anything regarding Mackeeper app in the mac app store, you you provide a link?

maharitho wrote:

 

I couldnt seen anything regarding Mackeeper app in the mac app store, you you provide a link?

It has been removed from the App Store.

Here is the official home page:

http://mackeeper.zeobit.com/

I do not recommend 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.

jeffreyfromtas wrote:

 

the benefits are far outweighed by the negatives.

What benefits?

Looks like negatives and benefits were unintenionally reversed. Couldn't be otherwise, as poster first says do not install.

Only benefit I know of is lining Zeobit's pocket with gold.

Which does the user absolutely no good.

Allan

Unless they work for Zeobit