Level 1

10 points

I keep getting a warning from MacKeeper telling me to run a scan

Several days ago I contacted Best Buy GeekSquad for support on my MacBook Pro. The problem I was having was that I would continuously get a window opening up saying that I had 3 viruses in my computer. They transferred me to a Mac technician. I allowed the technician to access my computer and after approximately an hour he finished getting rid of unwanted files, etc. Today I noticed that I keep getting a warning from MacKeeper telling me to run a scan. I did not press the "scan" button but I would like to know why and how to get rid of this warning window.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jul 22, 2018 7:22 AM

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27 replies

BobHarris

Level 9

56,927 points

Jul 24, 2018 8:01 PM in response to gaucho10

Allan Eckert is talking about your RAM memory, not your storage. Your Mac will support up to 16GB of RAM

<https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-2-duo-2.66 -aluminum-13-mid-2010-unibody-specs.html>

You already have an SSD installed as your storage device. An SSD is one of the best ways to increase the performance of an older Mac.

You may want to enable TRIM for your SSD. It can help the SSD stay ahead of your large writes.

<http://osxdaily.com/2015/10/29/use-trimforce-trim-ssd-mac-os-x>

This is not critical, just something to consider.

Chances are the people recommending an anti-virus for your Mac spend most of their time working on Windows. Treating a Mac like Windows generally does not work out well in the long run.

gaucho10 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 24, 2018 8:31 PM in response to BobHarris

Thanks BobHarris, I was under the impression that my Mac could not get more RAM than 4GB. After reading all these links I guess I can go up to 16GB. I have not read your link for the OSX Daily.com. I'll check it out. Do you know if it is worth for me to go to 16GB instead of 8GB? Where is the advantage for me?

gaucho10 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 25, 2018 6:35 AM in response to BobHarris

BobHarris, thanks for the information. The MacBook Pro I have is old, has a cracked screen and several exterior dents. Last year I installed a new SSD. This year I installed a new battery. Less than an hour ago I purchased a new 16GB memory upgrade from MacSales.com. I will be buying a new laptop in the near future but I will not be carrying along everywhere I g as I do with this MacBook Pro. I use the computer for work and my jobs usually entail working on roofs, attics, etc. That's where all the dents came from. :-) The memory upgrade cost me $145.00 and I think that it is worth it for me to upgrade as a work computer. My next laptop will be staying at home.

BTW, I removed Kasperski and installed MalwareBites. The program found 4 issues and cleaned the computer so apparently Kaspersy coiuld not find those 4 issues. As for App Cleaner & Uninstaller - I have been using it for several years to find programs in my drive. If I don't recognize them and want them removed I just check them off and they are instantly removed. It shows me what applications I have that are over 1GB, Extensions and files that remain in my computer after an uninstall. I don't believe that this program is running in the background. I could be wrong. As I am typing this, I noticed that I had a "Bug Splat" program in my computer that I did not install. Apparently "things" are still getting into my Mac. I used App Cleaner to remove same.

Thanks again.

gaucho10 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 22, 2018 9:02 AM in response to Greg B32

Followed your instructions and I can't find anything in my computer

with MacKeeper nor any other such application.

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Jul 22, 2018 9:17 AM in response to gaucho10

Then, nothing was actually installed. It was just a pop-up and you should be safe.

gaucho10 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 23, 2018 6:17 AM in response to Allan Eckert

I DL "EtreCheck" and it's results. I also have a screen shot of the browser opening page. I just can't figure out how to enter the EtreCheck results on this site.

gaucho10 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 23, 2018 1:40 PM in response to macjack

macjack, I will look into this since I was not aware of the problem. Thanks

gaucho10 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 23, 2018 2:21 PM in response to Allan Eckert

I will take that under advisement. It makes cense.

BobHarris

Level 9

56,927 points

Jul 24, 2018 7:38 PM in response to gaucho10

I am guessing Legacy Developer: Hp refers to Hewitt Packard (HP) printer drivers. Do you have, used to have an HP printer?

gaucho10 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 24, 2018 7:52 PM in response to kahjot

I can do it myself. The question is "do I need only 8GB or is it worth going to 16GB"? I assume that the computer is going to run faster to some degree.

gaucho10 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 24, 2018 8:50 PM in response to gaucho10

BobHarris, I read your link at OSX Daily.com and it sounds too complicated and many things could go wrong. I think I will leave that alone.

BobHarris

Level 9

56,927 points

Jul 25, 2018 6:08 AM in response to gaucho10

Enabling TRIM is not critical. Just a suggestion.

As for going up to 16GB of RAM. Your Mac is 8 years old. It is not getting any younger. The question is how much will adding 16GB of RAM cost to your budget vs saving that money towards a new Mac. You will need a new system eventually, so you should at least start making budgeting decisions with that in mind.

Uninstalling the Kaspersky should help with the current configuration.

Also to save RAM for your uses, uninstall MalwareBytes until the next time you install something else and want to check if it also did a side-install. That is to say, today the only malware that makes it to Macs is via you being involved in installing it, so you can safely leave MalwareBytes off your system and only install and run it after installing something else and you want to check your system.

Not sure what "App Cleaner Helper SMLoginItem" is but it has a name that makes me worry it is trying to clean things that most likely do not need cleaning. It is also using your RAM, so if you want to live inside your existing RAM, you should consider NOT running a lot of extra stuff all the time. So I would suggest removing this app.

Google Chrome can be a memory hog, so you might consider ONLY Using Chrome for websites that really need Chrome and us Safari (or Firefox) for other the rest. And regardless of which web browser you use, do not keep too many tabs open at once. Again the goal is to conserve RAM so that you are not forcing the system to page and swap to the storage device.

If you minimize your application memory footprint, you can most likely live in 4GB considering you have an SSD already.

But if you want to run lots of other 24/7 background apps, and have lots of concurrent browser tabs open all the time, then by all means, get 16GB of RAM 🙂

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I keep getting a warning from MacKeeper telling me to run a scan