So you may, or even may not, have heard of a Mac software cleanup/antivirus/antislow program called MacKeeper. It markets itself on Google as:
Ensure your Mac’s top performance with MacKeeper – an award-winning system utility for Mac that offers a completely new approach to system care.
Judging by their advertising, which if you haven’t seen it, is just overly invasive, and presented in such a way that a certain type of tinned meat ((spam)) comes to mind as soon as you see it, you’d think they’re not legit. Then perhaps you might Google them, as I did, to see if there’s anything interesting about them; any fishy reviews, any haters etc. Then you’ll find about a million results advertising MacKeeper as spam/fake/not legit etc, and when you click on them, you find out that they are in fact all affiliate links, saying how great MacKeeper is, and how much of a scam it is not.
Can I please be the first to call bullshit here? If they’re paying people to advertise (with their 50% affiliate fee!) the fact that it is not spam, then there’s something wrong, and using javascript popups to stop you closing their ad window is just so… low. Stop being so ghetto. I bet a large percentage of their reviews aren’t unbiased either. It’s terrible, alienating Mac users and using scaremongering tactics. Get a better marketing strategy.
In fact I propose that they change their little spiel about their company to:
Be unsure of your Mac’s top performance with MacKeeper – a no award-winning system utility for Mac that offers a completely new approach to spamming the hell out of Mac users on the internet.
Disclaimer: I would normally link to the various sites in question, but in this case they don’t need any more traffic, nor do they deserve any, hence why the links are missing.
Thank you for this information. I recognize everything you are saying. Unfortunately, their campaign was so annoying, and I saw some good reviews on the net (not legitimate apparently) and I clicked on the “free” version. I had to log in with my password, and although it did clean up a bit, I now worry about the access I have given to MacKeeper. They are now targeting me to buy the full version, with windows popping up saying that my computer is in danger of “being lost and found”, “in danger of being sphished”, and so on. I now worry that MacKeeper will do everything they threaten me with, so that I will be forced to buy their product. How on earth do I get rid of their access to my computer? I don’t know what to do. Can you help me?
Jane, thanks for your comment. With regards to removing MacKeeper, I not 100% sure how to as I’ve not installed it myself, but after a quick Google, it seems that they aim to make it as difficult as possible (surprise surprise!). There will most likely be processes related to MacKeeper running all the time, so they’ll need quitting (in Activity Monitor) before throwing stuff away. A program like AppZapper might also help in finding all the related files (http://www.appzapper.com/). I wish you the best of luck!
Hello guys,
I really want to answer your questions though I’m not sure you’ll see my reply as my comments tend to disappear from all the articles concerning MacKeeper in this blog.
Anyhow, I will try to provide you with the info you are interested at:
so, speaking about the price of MacKeeper, all the ads and the info you can see at mackeeper.com affirmes that MacKeeper is a shareware – the app is a paid one with free 15-days full-functional trial.
As for the pass you had to type in while installing MacKeeper – it’s required when you delete some files or apps and it just gives MacKeeper permission to do the cleaning.
As for deleting the app, it’s more than easy to remove MacKeeper from your Mac, just follow these steps:
1) quit the app
2)drag&drop it to the trash
3) fill in the survey form: just choose one of the reasons why you’ve decided to uninstall MacKeeper
4) press ‘Uninstall’ button
and all the components of MacKeeper will be completely removed from your Mac.
MacKeeper is running in the background because some tools are checking for updates such as Antivirus and Update tracker.
So you see you have no need to worry and in case you still have some questions concerning the app please apply to support@zeobit.com.
Thanks in advance,
Sana Paul, Zeobit LLC PR Manager
You know what all of this MacKeeper stuff is crap, MacKeeper is a Trojan Horse. It is not trusted software. They have advertisements on every single website (NOT EVERY) All of the advertisements on the websites are FALSE ADVERTISEMENT. ZeoBit’s Advertisements are stating “Award Winning Software” and a whole lot of other rubbish that is NOT true. I have read website after website, I even went out of my way to go on Apple’s Website and go on every single category and again, IT WASN’T THERE. Overall I would like to thank ZeoBit LLC for making a massive worldwide scam!
yup agree with np. there’s just something about it i can’t put my finger on. one of the sites said it was legit because apple has it on its site as a download and it even has a link. but when i clicked it, it led me nowhere. i think something’s really wrong somewhere.
Your first clue that Mackeeper is a scam – it’s not available in the Mac app store.
i saw a post in Apple discussion forum, some guys said Mackeeper is a scam, it is hard to uninstall and there is no need to install such an app,coz Mac itself is safe enough.
Thanks to everyone, especially Moses, for these comments. I
just Googled “is mackeeper legit” and found this little discussion.
I Googled it because, unlike most of the time when I get these
stupid little Java popups from MacKeeper, one just sort of attacked
my Mac, took over the screen, wouldn’t let me close out of the page
until I quit Safari altogether… I’ve never seen any program do
that that wasn’t malware of some sort. I will NOT download it,
ever.
Try Onyx guys, it’s free and easy to use.
This will clean up your mac just as Mackeeper, but will do so in a much less obtrusive way.
I even bought Mac Keeper (I feel such an old mug) & then found out the truth & deleted it. If you want to use anything I suggest ClamXav.com & It’s free. About every 5 or so updates they ask you to donate but there is no need to do so. I’ve used it for years & only bought Mac Keeper because I thought it was approved by Mac (because of it’s name)
its not on store