MacKeeper is an application that is designed to help you uninstall apps, get rid of junk files, and carry out other tasks that keep your Mac running smoothly and free of clutter. It includes tools that securely erase files and perform backups, among many other features.
- Mackeeper For Iphone
- Is Mackeeper Approved By Apple
- Can Mackeeper Be Trusted
- Does Apple Recommend Using Mackeeper
If you've had a Mac for a while, there's a good chance you've come across an ad for a software called Mackeeper. It's a Cleaning utility originally developed by Zeobit LLC which was acquired by Kromtech Alliance Corp, a German-based IT investment and development company, in 2015. Removing the MacKeeper app is one thing, getting rid of annoying pop-up ads for it is quite another. Chris Breen offers advice.
However, in the past, it has been heavily promoted on the web using methods which MacRumors calls “unrealistic claims.”
Once installed, MacKeeper has a range of tools to help you keep your Mac running smoothly. But Sophos and Malwarebytes even viewed it as a potentially unwanted program, a form of malware.
Whatever the reason, many Mac users who have installed MacKeeper decide that they want to remove it. However, its removal is a process that may involve a lot of steps. MacKeeper places files in several folders on your Mac, making it even more difficult to remove the app from your device. However, we’ll show you how to uninstall it for good.
How to delete MacKeeper from your Mac
There are several different steps needed to completely remove MacKeeper from your Mac. These are:
- Delete MacKeeper from the menu bar
- Uninstall the application
- Delete the files left behind
- Remove browser extensions and cookies
Now we will address each of the steps in detail to make it clearer how to free your Mac of MacKeeper.
Delete MacKeeper from your Mac’s menu bar
Mackeeper For Iphone
Clicking on the menu bar illustrates one of the ways in which MacKeeper makes itself difficult to remove or even stop running. There’s no Quit command. And it doesn’t want you to Force Quit either. So, to delete MacKeeper from your Mac’s menu bar you need to:
- Go to your Applications folder and double-click MacKeeper to launch it.
- Click on the MacKeeper menu on the left of the menu bar and choose Preferences.
- Choose the General tab.
- Uncheck the box labeled Show MacKeeper icon in the menu bar.
- Quit MacKeeper. Ignore any prompts to activate it or sign up for any services.
Uninstall MacKeeper
- Go back to the Applications folder.
- Locate the MacKeeper app and drag it to the Trash.
- If you’re prompted for your administrator password, type it in and click Ok.
- You might then see another pop-up (it’s very persistent) asking whether you are sure you want to uninstall MacKeeper. Type in your username and password again and press Ok.
- Once it’s deleted, a window may launch in Safari asking you to complete a survey on mackeeper.com to explain why you uninstalled it. You can either share your opinion or safely ignore it.
How to get rid of the rest of MacKeeper files
- In the Finder, click on the Go menu and type the following into the box:
~/Library
- Locate the following files in the Library folder and drag them to the Trash.
- Empty the Trash.
/Application Support/MacKeeper Helper
(this one is a folder, delete the whole folder)
/Caches/com.mackeeper.MacKeeper
/Caches/com.mackeeper.MacKeeper.Helper
/LaunchAgents/com.mackeeper.MacKeeper.Helper.plist
/Application Support/MacKeeper Helper
/LaunchDaemons/com.mackeeper.MacKeeper.plugin.AntiTheft.daemon.plist
How to uninstall MacKeeper the easy way
If all that seems like quite a lot of effort to get rid of MacKeeper, there is an easier way. CleanMyMac X has an Uninstaller tool that can remove MacKeeper and pretty much any other app in a few clicks. The benefit of using CleanMyMac X instead of uninstalling the app manually is that you can be sure that you will get rid of all the files MacKeeper installed on your Mac. CleanMyMac X scans your Mac to make sure that none of the associated files will be left cluttering up your startup drive. Here’s how it works.
- Download and launch CleanMyMac X — get a free version here
- Choose Uninstaller in the left-hand sidebar.
- Locate MacKeeper in the main window and check the box next to it.
- Press Uninstall.
That’s all there is to it! As you can see on the screenshot, MacKeeper creates lots of additional files but CleanMyMac X will remove them for you.
Go to the Optimization tab in CleanMyMac X and find Launch Agents.
Now, tick 'MacKeeper agent' and delete it from the list.
But why delete one Mac cleaning app with another? Well...many people indeed put all Mac cleaning apps in the same box. But in this particular case, the devil is in the details. CleanMyMac X is a different software that is notarized by Apple. “Notarized” means it’s been verified as a safe cleaning utility.
Seeing pop-ups? Here’s how to get rid of them
Depending on how you downloaded MacKeeper and where you downloaded it from, you might see a bunch of pop-ups in Safari after you download it. Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to get rid of them. Here’s what you need to do.
- Quit Safari. If the pop-ups are preventing it from quitting, press Command-Option-Escape and choose Safari from the list of apps in the window that opens to force quit it.
- Launch Safari again, but this time hold down the Shift key to stop the windows from the last session re-opening.
- Click on the Safari menu and choose Preferences, then select the Extensions tab.
- Look for any extensions you didn’t intend to install and select on. Press Uninstall.
- Repeat step 4 for any other extensions you didn't need.
- Now, choose the Privacy tab.
- Press Manage Website Data.
- In the Search box, type MacKeeper to search for any cache files or cookies. If you find any, select them and press Remove.
How to remove Mackeeper pop-ups in Chrome
- Launch Chrome.
- In the address bar, type:
chrome://extensions
- Check for any extensions you didn’t install and click on the Remove button next to them.
- Now type:
chrome://settings
. - Click on Advanced at the bottom of the page.
- In the Privacy and Security section, look for Clear browsing data and click on it.
- Click on the Time Range menu and choose All Time.
- Make sure Cookies and other site data is checked and click Clear Data.
That’s quite a long process, but there is an easier way. CleanMyMac X can remove Extensions and clear website data like cache files and cookies in just a couple of clicks. Here’s how to do it.
- Download and install CleanMyMac X if you haven't already done it.
- Launch CleanMyMac X.
- Choose Extensions in the sidebar.
- Click View All Extensions.
- Select the extensions you want to get rid of and press Remove.
- Now, click on the Privacy section in the sidebar and then press Scan.
- When it’s finished scanning, click on Safari, or whichever browser you use, to see the items available for removal.
- Check the box next to the items, eg Browser History, you want to delete.
- Press Remove.
Still having problems with pop-ups?
It’s possible that even after clearing out cache files and cookies you will still see MacKeeper pop-up ads. To prevent that, the best idea is to use an ad-blocker. There are several ad-blockers for Safari on the Mac App Store. Not all ad-blockers are the same, though. Some work better than others, and some block content that doesn’t advertise anything. So do your research before choosing the best ad-blocker to install.
MacKeeper is an application that is designed to clean up your Mac and improve its performance by clearing out junk files, uninstalling apps, scanning for malware, and performing optimization routines. Thanks to its extensive advertising campaign, which uses a number of different techniques that may be found intrusive, it has found its way on to many Mac machines over the years. And when those users come to uninstall it, they often find it’s not as easy as it should be.
The good news is that if you follow the steps above, you can delete MacKeeper and remove all of the files this app puts on your Mac. If you want to optimize the deletion process and make sure your Mac isn’t cluttered by associated files, CleanMyMac X can help.
If you've had a Mac for a while, there's a good chance you've come across an ad for a software called Mackeeper. It's a Cleaning utility originally developed by Zeobit LLC which was acquired by Kromtech Alliance Corp, a German-based IT investment and development company, in 2015. You can check out their website by clicking the button below:
Mackeeper has been under some heavy criticism in the Apple community for advertising heavily. In this post, I'll review the tool itself and uncover some of the truths about Mackeeper that will help you decide if it's worth your money or not.
Is Mackeeper a “virus”?
Mackeeper parent company, Kromtech Alliance Corp, advertise their products heavily. That advertising includes annoying popups that sometimes start downloading mackeeper automatically to the user's computer. For this reason, many people label it as a virus that is sneakily trying to install itself on their Macs.
The truth is, even if the download automatically starts from a popup, you can still cancel it. If you don't manage to cancel it, the software won't install itself on your Mac unless you open the .dmg file and install it yourself.
Yes, those are seriously aggressive marketing tactics and I think Kromtech should rethink their marketing strategy but I won't call mackeeper a virus just because of that. It is not a virus/scam. It's just that the parent company is notorious for its aggressive advertising campaigns.
Why is Mackeeper disliked in the Apple community?
We live in an age where we'll believe just about anything we read on the internet. Most of the people who bash mackeeper haven't tried it. They just read a negative forum/blog post about it and believe Mackeeper to be whatever the post says. This kind of a chain effect continues and coupled with Kromtech's aggressive advertising, gives Mackeeper a bad name in the Apple community.
This is why I decided to get a license myself and test it out myself on my Mac. Below is my impartial review of some of the tools Mackeeper has.
I also worked out a deal with the Kromtech guys. They've hooked me up with a 66% percent discount on the 2-year plan. That means you can save $240 if you buy it using the link below. It's not just for the 2-year plan though, the discount applies to all plans, even the smallest one.
Now, on with the actual review…
Installation is pretty simple. You download the .dmg file, open it, and follow the on-screen instructions.
Here is how the main screen looks:
Memory Cleaner:
My Mac has 4 gigs of memory and sometimes it struggles to give the best performance due to lack of memory. Running Mackeeper every now and then helps me free up some RAM and that comes in real handy. I just ran the memory cleaner and managed to free almost 400MB of RAM.
Duplicate Finder:
The duplicates finder detects file copies that take up hard disk space on your Mac. It groups such identical files even if they were renamed so that you can decide to delete them or transfer them to an external storage device to free up hard disk space on your Mac.
You can also group the duplicate files by file types. For example, clicking on “video” tab in the duplicates finder module will only show duplicate video files. Here's a screenshot of the duplicates finder screen:
Smart Uninstaller:
This is a nice handy tool to uninstall apps from your mac properly. Just deleting apps from the “Applications” folder is not enough. This is where Mackeeper comes in. It shows you a list of apps you can choose to uninstall from. Then after uninstalling it, it scans your entire hard disk for leftover files associated to that app and removes them. This not only saves storage space but also helps with the performance of your mac.
Login Items:
This module simply shows you the list of apps that start with your mac. You can add or remove apps in your login items by clicking the + or – sign.
Is Mackeeper Approved By Apple
Disk Usage:
The disk usage module scans your hard disk and lists all files and folders present on it along with the size of the folder right next to its name. The folder size is displayed in 4 colors (red, orange, yellow, green) depending on the size of the folder.
Can Mackeeper Be Trusted
Anti Theft:
Does Apple Recommend Using Mackeeper
The anti-theft module serves two purposes. One, it prevents unauthorized access to your mac. Two, it helps you track your mac in case it gets stolen. You set it up once, and in case your mac gets stolen, you can use the web interface on mackeeper's website to track your Mac's location and even take a photo of the intruder/thief using your Mac's iSight camera.