MacKeeper is a utility software distributed by Kromtech Alliance and is designed to help to uninstall apps, get rid of unused files and complete your tasks to keep your Mac running properly and free of clutter.
It is made to securely erase files and perform back-ups along with other features.
Probably, there is no such controversial app in the Apple world and the MacKeeper makes you really doubt about its usefulness and the features it offers.
Many Mac users who have installed MacKeeper decide to remove it. According to the users, reasons vary, but it is often stated that this app – is a virus itself and instead of speeding your Mac up, it slows it down. It might even erase your hard drive, delete photos and make documents disappear.
Moreover, it is paid. You can choose to pay $14.95/month, $7.95/month if you pay $100 for 12 months or $4.95/month if you pay $120 for 24 months in advance.
MacKeeper is also well-known for being highly promoted through rough advertising and affiliate marketing.
It has faced a class-action lawsuit because the company allegedly defrauded users into paying for unnecessary fixes.
The lawsuit was settled in 2014 and resulted in a remarkably high rate of private citizens filing for refunds out of a $2 million pool without any admission of guilt by the company.
MacKeeper’s removal is a difficult process that requires many steps, but if all these statements have convinced you to remove it, you can find detailed guides online on how to delete MacKeeper.
Unneeded tools
Let’s take a dive into the Data Encryptor, Files Finder, Login Items, Disk Usage, Default Apps, Update Tracker, Backup, Anti-Theft tools for instance.
There is one enormous disadvantage to all of them – these apps are alternative to macOS built-in utilities and are offered by Apple for free.
Features provided by Apple require no additional installation or configuration, and they do their job quite well. But as the MacKeeper kit includes 17 apps, there are left 9 more apps to consider.
On one hand, if you use all of these features every day (which most users don’t), it might be useful for you to have access to all of them as they are in the same app.
Utilities that make no or little benefits
Now let’s look at the tools that are quite promising, but don’t prove to have benefits on a daily basis — Internet Security, Adware Cleaner, Memory Cleaner, and Geek on Demand.
Internet Security sounds like a big thing, as there is a Mac malware out there. Though, it is considered not necessary. The majority of malware is caught due to the insecurity of Java, which was removed from macOS for the same reason.
Most well-known browsers like Safari, Chrome and Firefox have built-in anti-phishing features. Besides that enabling Mac’s Gatekeeper in System Preferences under Security and Privacy will add extra protection. This makes the MacKeeper Internet Security app completely unuseful.
Adware cleaner aims to find and remove malicious software that displays irritating ads. Though, this utility has very little use if you avoid downloading pirated software.
Memory Cleaner is used to remove apps from your RAM and to make your computer run faster. And it does what it should if you have no idea how to quit apps and have less than 4GB of RAM.
Geek on Demand feature lets you reach out to a technician using the MacKeeper app. It is quite a mystery why you would pay for MacKeeper Geek instead of contacting directly to Certified Apple Support (which is free).
If you see these features making almost no use, then you have only 5 out of 17 features left.
Cleanup Assistance Apps
Finally, here are the key apps that come in the kit:
- Smart Uninstaller – removes the apps along with (some) supplementary files.
- Files Recovery – restores (some) deleted files.
- Fast Cleanup – erases caches, logs, unneeded languages from apps, etc.
- Duplicates Finder app – helps you to locate duplicate copies on your Shredder which allows you to completely delete files from your Mac.
- Contemplating the use of these features, it doesn’t seem that you will need to run them often, but at least they do almost everything that they promise.
Conclusion
Considering that MacKeeper, which has 17 apps and features in 1 kit isn’t worth the money and does more harm by catching various viruses than what it is supposed to do (to clean up your Mac and allow to run it smoothly).
And according to plenty of Apple users worldwide, you should probably remove it until it’s not too late.