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Old 02-08-2013, 11:24 PM   #1
juniper
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MacKeeper - what's the talk?
On my Mac, the popup for MacKeeper is one of the few that appears - and frequently. At least once a day.

I searched this forum and only found one reference to it, here:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/show...8&postcount=15

which only says: "MacKeeper - a fantastic all-in-one Swiss army knife for deleting files, splitting binaries, etc."

I don't have many issues with my 3 years old MacBook, although I *did* have to get it completely wiped by the Genius Bar a couple of weeks ago, then reload everything from my Time Machine backup. (I'd been having trouble for a couple of months with it being frozen after turning on - mouse would move cursor around, but nothing would ever happen - no files open, no programs ... Genius Bar tried a couple of fixes then just wiped it, seems to be ok now )

So, what's up with MacKeeper? Should I have it? Is it useful? Is it dangerous? Is it meh take-it-or-leave it?

Thanks.
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Old 02-08-2013, 11:42 PM   #2
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I don't have personal experience with it, but of course I have an opinion!

Mac reviewers I usually trust (CNET, Cult of Mac) speak highly of it. Average people - of the category of those who take the time to comment obsessively online (which would include trolls) slam it. Curious to see what others around the water cooler who may have actually used the program, have to say.
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Old 02-09-2013, 12:49 AM   #3
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Taking a look at it, I wouldn't bother.

Most of it is stuff the average user doesn't need, and the stuff that looks appealing, you can find better elsewhere as standalone software. IMO.
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Old 02-09-2013, 01:16 AM   #4
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I'd take a look at Onyx

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx
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Old 02-09-2013, 05:49 AM   #5
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I thought I'd need it but I requested a refund during the trial period.

And they got hopelessly sh!tty with me, making me glad I wasn't ever going to do business with them again. I outlined some speed and response time issues that popped up after I installed it and that disappeared after I'd uninstalled it, and I got a reply from them basically telling me I was wrong because their lab tests and testimonials were right. Still got a refund and still won't do business with them in the future.

And the replies in their customer support forums were written in English as their second language ("We are sorry for you having these problem. Rest assure, we taking concerns of yours very seriously and will arriving at solution shortly. Signed, PEGGY.")
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Old 02-09-2013, 10:12 AM   #6
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I thought I'd need it but I requested a refund during the trial period.
What did you think you'd need it for? We may be able to recommend some alternatives.
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Old 02-11-2013, 02:00 PM   #7
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Checked in with my "in house" IT. (The one I feed and pay tuition for)
He's used MacKeeper and strongly advises against it.
He recommends that if you run into problems in the future, try using the Mac's built in Disk Utility program. Just Verify the disk and then Repair it if there are any problems. It may take a while for the program to run but it works very well. If Disk Utility can't fix it then you may need more help than a simple program can do.

Good luck!
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Old 02-27-2013, 12:33 PM   #8
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Thx, everyone. Those endless popup ads were making me wonder if there was something to it.

Now I just wonder how those ads even get there - so few ads I get - the MacKeeper and Netflix are the only ones, I think. They must have special powers to make it past the Mac protections.
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Old 02-27-2013, 06:27 PM   #9
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MacKeeper has badly trashed a couple of Macs here. We consider it malware.
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Old 02-27-2013, 08:12 PM   #10
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When I google MacKeeper, I get a bunch of pages telling me NOT to install MacKeeper. Seems like a dead giveaway that it's crap software.

I would rarely install any highly invasive software on my Mac unless it came from Apple itself, or a highly trusted source.

Macbooks rarely get viruses because the majority of viruses are written for Windows computers. Even then, I would use McAfee (though I, personally don't bother with virus protection).

There are free alternatives for just about everything they offer.

If you want a decent popup blocker, AdBlocker is excellent. I've not had a single popup since I installed it. It also allows you to customize which ads you block.
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Old 02-27-2013, 08:52 PM   #11
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There are a number of built in utility scripts in Mac OS X—disc utility is a tool with a graphic user interface (GUI) for many of them, but not all.

Cocktail and Onyx are two very popular programs that simply provide a GUI for built in scripts, scripts that often run automatically (if the Mac is powered up at the scheduled time) and that can be run on the command line via Terminal.

These include verifying/repairing drives (though this one will work best if you run it on an external drive/cd/USB stick other than the drive you're checking), rotating logs, repairing permissions, etc.
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Old 03-01-2013, 06:10 AM   #12
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Disk repair will solve most problems. I would never use Mac keeper because the pop-under ads hiding behind the news are too annoying for polite company.

I just had a wandering mouse pointer yesterday. The wireless mouse batteries were dying. The other time it happened, I had something heavy sitting on the wire of a wired mouse. I've had Macs for several years, but I've never seen a Genius Bar or the inside of a real Apple Store only because I live 200 miles from it.

A 3-year Mac is not necessarily showing its age. Wiping it probably gave it a new lease on life for a few more years. My G4 MDD Mac still runs nicely.

I will say this, though, memory starting to fail will cause Mac to do some very weird things. After spending $100 in a repair shop, I pulled the stick of bad memory and have not looked back. .
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Old 03-01-2013, 07:11 AM   #13
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There are both internal checks for bad RAM, and external tools on the System disc that came with a Mac that can check for Ram.

It's also easy to check personally by first re-seating the RAM, and then by swapping/removing on SIM / DIM at a time.
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Old 03-03-2013, 02:35 AM   #14
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I agree
I reseated, swapped and even cleaned it with an eraser. It would boot with bad RAM, too. Go figure. I don't know why it did not show as bad. I finally decided it was tired and needed a rest. Its rested for five years.

Quote:
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There are both internal checks for bad RAM, and external tools on the System disc that came with a Mac that can check for Ram.

It's also easy to check personally by first re-seating the RAM, and then by swapping/removing on SIM / DIM at a time.
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Old 03-03-2013, 02:40 AM   #15
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AV and Mac
Clam X works pretty good and its free. There is also a free version for Windows, but I don't know how well it works.
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