What does everybody (or anybody) think of MacKeeper?

It’s generally considered to be unnecessary and useless.

(108940)

The article below should tell you all you need to know about MacKeeper.

Do not install MacKeeper

I second others' opinions; I'd uninstall it right away.

It's risky software from a questionable company that spam's Mac sites with intrusive adverts…

http://www.thesafemac.com/beware-mackeeper/

It's the reason for blocking adverts in browsers IMO.

unnecessary, insidious, malware, pointless, hard to uninstall, and a few other choice adjectives that I will not post here.

This company preys on people's general fears about performance and internet viruses/trojans/et al. They are one of the few companies out there (compared to Windows) that are of this type. I block zeobit.com and any other site they come thorugh on ... at the router.

Did you read any of the links provided?

stedman1's link has more info on removing it.

I use MacKeeper 3.0 mainly for cleaning junk, anti-theft tool and the uninstaller. I love the anti-theft tool. It's kind of like Find My Mac on iCloud but it makes logs once or twice a day and records the location on their web site with a map. Useful when your Mac is disconnected from the internet when you try to locate it. If you report your Mac as lost, you can take a photo of the person using the Mac and have it emailed to you as well. I don't use all the features because I figure I know enough about Macs to fix the problems on my own, but those three features I find useful anyway. I don't get the whole "your mac is in critical condition" thing when you first open up the app but that doesn't bother me much. They could perhaps enhance on this and explain to the user why it is in "critical condition".

There are better apps out there to do those things that aren't harmful like MacKeeper.

See: http://www.thesafemac.com/beware-mackeeper/

For anti-theft, it recommends Prey.

For an uninstaller, it recommends AppZapper.

For "cleaning," such utilities can be dangerous, and MacKeeper is a prime example as it's been known to delete files that actually belong to the system. If you haven't noticed an impact to your Mac's performance, you will...

I recommend reading the whole article.

MatthewHeath wrote:

Okay cool. Well what if I'd had it for a year with (seemingly) no problems. I assume this means maybe I will have problems. What should I do?

Removing MacKeeper is simple if it is not an older version and you didn't actually use it to alter your Mac by "removing excess binaries" or similar tasks.

We can discuss its specific effects if you wish but you should remove it. Its singular purpose is to get you to part with $40 or whatever they want these days. Once that's done, its mission is complete.

Follow these instructions to uninstall MacKeeper. They have been tested with the most recent version of MacKeeper. Earlier versions than the one released in 2012 require more extensive work to uninstall all its components. Never install such junk on a Mac.

If you actually used MacKeeper to alter your system, e.g. "remove excess binaries" or such, you will need to reinstall OS X as well as all your additional software. Uninstalling MacKeeper is insufficient to reverse the corruption it is capable of - once again, that is if you used it.

If you merely installed MacKeeper but did not use it to perform any particular action, the following instructions will suffice.

• If you used MacKeeper to encrypt any files or folders, use MacKeeper to un-encrypt them first.
• Quit the MacKeeper app if it is running.
• Open your Applications folder: Using the Finder's Go menu, select Applications.
• Drag the MacKeeper icon from your Applications folder (not the Dock) to the Trash.

You will be asked to authenticate (twice):

You do not need to provide a reason for uninstalling it:

Just click the Uninstall MacKeeper button. You will be asked to authenticate again.

After it uninstalls you may empty the Trash and restart your Mac. All that will remain is an inert log file that does nothing but occupy space on your hard disk.

I really don't want to have to sweep my entire system and reinstall all of my applications and reset all of my settings, etc. if I don't have to.

You might have to. It depends on exactly what you used MacKeeper to do.

Upgrading to Mavericks doesn't change any software that you installed, including software that modifies the operating system. Some software known to be incompatible will be isolated to a folder labeled "incompatible software" but the algorithm responsible for performing that action is very superficial and leaves a lot of notorious garbage untouched.

When an OS upgrade results in system crashes, slowdowns, and other unacceptable behavior, ill-conceived third party software that modifies OS X (such as MacKeeper) is the usual reason. MacKeeper isn't the only example. In general, you should uninstall anything of a "system utility" or "maintenance" nature such as "optimizers", "boosters", "cleaners", "sweepers", "protectors" and so forth, things that modify the Finder or the Dock - generally anything that isn't related to the tasks you need your Mac to perform for you. Uninstall anything that fits that description first, and don't reinstall it.

As a rule you should back up your system routinely, but especially prior to upgrading OS X. It's the only practicable way to "undo" an OS X upgrade, should you want to do that. Read: Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac

If you are uncertain if any well-known problematic software exists on your Mac, consider posting the results of EtreCheck. Read about it here. It contains a link to download EtreCheck. Don't download it from anywhere else (such as may be found by following the results of an Internet search).