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'''MacKeeper''' is a [[utility software]] suite for [[Mac OS X]] designed to optimize and clean a computer system.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mac OS X Tips, Tricks, Apps & Fixes |publisher=Imagine Publishing |url=http://books.google.com/?id=td-hT2qWtbUC|isbn=9781908955784|accessdate=2014-07-14 }}</ref> MacKeeper has received mixed reviews with reviewers being very divided as to the effectiveness of the software.<ref name="Softonic"/> It has gained notoriety through deceptive marketing tactics, sometimes being called [[malware]].<ref name=Arnolds>{{cite web|last=Arnolds|first=Scott|title=MacKeeper: Deceptive Malware|url=https://blogs.umass.edu/Techbytes/2013/05/29/mackeeper-deceptive-malware/|publisher=University of Massachusetts|accessdate=12 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=MacKeeper Review – Should You Install This Mac Utility Software?|url=http://lureofmac.com/mackeeper-review-should-you-install-this-mac-utility-software/|website=Lure of Mac|publisher=Lure of Mac|accessdate=12 July 2014}}</ref>
'''MacKeeper''' is a [[utility software]] suite for [[Mac OS X]] designed to optimize and clean a computer system. It has gained notoriety through deceptive marketing tactics, sometimes being called [[malware]].<ref name=Arnolds>{{cite web|last=Arnolds|first=Scott|title=MacKeeper: Deceptive Malware|url=https://blogs.umass.edu/Techbytes/2013/05/29/mackeeper-deceptive-malware/|publisher=University of Massachusetts|accessdate=12 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=MacKeeper Review – Should You Install This Mac Utility Software?|url=http://lureofmac.com/mackeeper-review-should-you-install-this-mac-utility-software/|website=Lure of Mac|publisher=Lure of Mac|accessdate=12 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Stokes|first1=Philip|title=How to uninstall MacKeeper malware|url=http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/09/21/how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-malware/|website=http://applehelpwriter.com/|publisher=Apple Help Writer|accessdate=25 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Griffee|first1=Simon|title=MacKeeper Is Malware|url=http://hypertexthero.com/logbook/2014/05/mackeeper-malware/|website=http://hypertexthero.com|publisher=Hypertexthero|accessdate=12 July 2014}}</ref>


==History==
==History==
The first beta-version of MacKeeper 0.8 was released on 13 May 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prmac.com/release-id-17537.htm |title=ZeoBIT LLC Releases MacKeeper 1.0 - 911 for Mac OS - Now With Antivirus |publisher=Zeobit |date=27 October 2014 |accessdate=14 July 2014}}</ref> MacKeeper 1.0 was released on October 26, 2010.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} MacKeeper 2.0 was released on 30 January 2012 at [[Macworld – iWorld]] with an expanded number of utilities related to security, data control, cleaning and optimization features.<ref>{{cite web|title=New Version of MacKeeper released at the MacWorld | publisher = [[Macworld/iWorld|iWorld]] 2012 Expo |url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/2/prweb9190932.htm |accessdate=2014-07-14}}</ref> Kromtech Alliance acquired Mackeeper from ZeoBit in April 2013.<ref name="Kromtech">{{cite web |url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/4/prweb10633002.htm |title=Kromtech Alliance Corp Acquires MacKeeper |publisher=PRWeb |date=15 April 2013 |accessdate=8 July 2014}}</ref>
The first beta-version of MacKeeper 0.8 was released on 13 May 2010.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} MacKeeper 1.0 was released on October 26, 2010.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} MacKeeper 2.0 was released on 30 January 2012 at [[Macworld – iWorld]] with an expanded number of utilities related to security, data control, cleaning and optimization features.<ref>{{cite web|title=New Version of MacKeeper released at the MacWorld | publisher = [[Macworld/iWorld|iWorld]] 2012 Expo |url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/2/prweb9190932.htm |accessdate=2014-07-14}}</ref> Kromtech Alliance acquired Mackeeper from ZeoBit in April 2013.<ref name="Kromtech">{{cite web |url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/4/prweb10633002.htm |title=Kromtech Alliance Corp Acquires MacKeeper |publisher=PRWeb |date=15 April 2013 |accessdate=8 July 2014}}</ref>


== Features ==
== Features ==
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Update Tracker checks each application installed on the Mac user's machine for the newest versions.<ref name="Softonic"/> All apps are marked by color as up-to-date and out-of-date. Any out-of-date application can be updated manually. Login Items allows the user to manage start-up applications that launch automatically. Default Apps shows the associations between all file extensions and applications that open them. It helps to define which application will open each file type and allows the user to choose the methods.
Update Tracker checks each application installed on the Mac user's machine for the newest versions.<ref name="Softonic"/> All apps are marked by color as up-to-date and out-of-date. Any out-of-date application can be updated manually. Login Items allows the user to manage start-up applications that launch automatically. Default Apps shows the associations between all file extensions and applications that open them. It helps to define which application will open each file type and allows the user to choose the methods.


==Reception==
==Criticism==
===Criticism===
{{criticism section|date=July 2014}}
Zeobit has been accused of employing misleading advertising with regards to its promotion of MacKeeper, including aggressive affiliates, pop-under ads and planting sock-puppet reviews as well as websites set up to discredit their competitors.<ref name="cultofmac">{{citeweb|title= Is MacKeeper Really A Scam? |url=http://www.cultofmac.com/170522/is-mackeeper-really-a-scam/}}</ref><ref>{{citeweb |title=MacKeeper, a rather slimy tale|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528010324/http://themacfeed.com/2011/06/mackeeper-a-rather-slimy-tale/}}</ref> ZeoBit claims that negative attacks were also launched against MacKeeper by an unnamed competitor, and that many users and press are confusing MacKeeper with another app.<ref>{{cite web|title=EXCLUSIVE: MacKeeper Says “Unethical Competitor Trying to Tarnish Our Reputation” |url=http://www.applegazette.com/feature/exclusive-mackeeper-says-unethical-competitor-trying-to-tarnish-our-reputation |publisher=Apple Gazette |first=Robin |last=Parrish |date=14 November 2011 |accessdate=10 July 2014}}</ref>
Zeobit has been accused of employing misleading advertising with regards to its promotion of MacKeeper, including aggressive affiliates, pop-under ads and planting sock-puppet reviews as well as websites set up to discredit their competitors.<ref name="cultofmac">{{citeweb|title= Is MacKeeper Really A Scam? |url=http://www.cultofmac.com/170522/is-mackeeper-really-a-scam/}}</ref><ref>{{citeweb |title=MacKeeper, a rather slimy tale|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528010324/http://themacfeed.com/2011/06/mackeeper-a-rather-slimy-tale/}}</ref> ZeoBit claims that negative attacks were also launched against MacKeeper by an unnamed competitor, and that many users and press are confusing MacKeeper with another app.<ref>{{cite web|title=EXCLUSIVE: MacKeeper Says “Unethical Competitor Trying to Tarnish Our Reputation” |url=http://www.applegazette.com/feature/exclusive-mackeeper-says-unethical-competitor-trying-to-tarnish-our-reputation |publisher=Apple Gazette |first=Robin |last=Parrish |date=14 November 2011 |accessdate=10 July 2014}}</ref>

The [[WOT Services|Web of Trust]] website safety service gives Zeobit's Mackeeper website an "unsatisfactory" rating due to complaints of malware or viruses, spam, poor customer experience, misleading claims and ads and pop-ups. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/mackeeper.zeobit.com|website=http://www.mywot.com|publisher=Web of Trust|accessdate=12 July 2014}}</ref>


===Lawsuits===
===Lawsuits===
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===Reviews===
===Reviews===
[[Macworld]] gave MacKeeper 3.5 out of 5 stars in August 2010, based on the 0.9.6 build of the program, and found it a reasonably priced set of tools but experienced lagging while switching between tools.<ref>{{cite web| title=MacKeeper 0.9.6 |url=http://www.macworld.com/article/1151454/mackeeper.html |publisher=Macworld |first=Jeffery |last=Battersby |date=24 Aug 2010 }}</ref> [[MacLife]] rated it at 2.5 out of 5 and said it to be useful mainly for freeing up drive space, but found other features offered inconsistent results and believed most users won’t need its antivirus feature.<ref>{{cite web| title=MacKeeper System Maintenance Suite Review |url=http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/mackeeper_system_maintenance_suite_review |first=Adam |last=Berenstain |date=23 September 2011 |publisher=MacLife}}</ref>[[AV-Comparatives]] found that MacKeeper had an excellent ability to detect Mac-based [[malware]].<ref name="av-comparatives">{{cite web |url=http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/mac_review_2013_en.pdf |title=Product Review: Mac Security - July 2013 |year=2013 |publisher=AV-Comparatives |accessdate=12 July 2013}}</ref>
The Safe Mac recommended users avoid MacKeeper, questioning not only Zeobit's general ethical conduct but finding the software unnecessary, overpriced and problematic to uninstall.<ref>{{citeweb |title=Beware MacKeeper |url=http://www.thesafemac.com/beware-mackeeper/}}</ref> [[Macworld]] gave MacKeeper 3.5 out of 5 stars in August 2010, based on the 0.9.6 build of the program, and found it a reasonably priced set of tools but experienced lagging while switching between tools.<ref>{{cite web| title=MacKeeper 0.9.6 |url=http://www.macworld.com/article/1151454/mackeeper.html}}</ref> [[MacLife]] rated it at 2.5 out of 5 and said it to be useful mainly for freeing up drive space, but found other features offered inconsistent results and believed most users won’t need its antivirus feature.<ref>{{citeweb| title=MacKeeper System Maintenance Suite Review |url=http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/mackeeper_system_maintenance_suite_review}}</ref>


== See also ==
== See also ==

Revision as of 07:44, 15 July 2014

MacKeeper
Developer(s)Zeobit, Kromtech Alliance
Stable release
MacKeeper 2.0 / January 30, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-01-30)
Operating systemMac OS X Intel Mac OS X 10.5 or later
Available inEnglish, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, French, Polish, Turkish, and Russian, German, Italian, Finnish, Czech, Japanese, Korean and Chinese
TypeUtility software
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Websitemackeeper.kromtech.net

MacKeeper is a utility software suite for Mac OS X designed to optimize and clean a computer system. It has gained notoriety through deceptive marketing tactics, sometimes being called malware.[1][2][3][4]

History

The first beta-version of MacKeeper 0.8 was released on 13 May 2010.[citation needed] MacKeeper 1.0 was released on October 26, 2010.[citation needed] MacKeeper 2.0 was released on 30 January 2012 at Macworld – iWorld with an expanded number of utilities related to security, data control, cleaning and optimization features.[5] Kromtech Alliance acquired Mackeeper from ZeoBit in April 2013.[6]

Features

Security

The Real-Time Internet Security feature blocks malicious websites automatically while surfing the Internet by using several databases of known URLs. The tool allows users to manually create lists of potentially dangerous websites to be blocked. MacKeeper contains an anti-theft feature.[7] It can help find a lost or stolen computer by making an iSight photo snapshot of the user, generating a detailed report of the location information through the use of triangulation and contacting the owner the moment the computer is detected.

Data control

Data Encryptor is a filesystem-level encryption tool that can encrypt files or folders on the hard drive and allow users to hide them with a password.[7] The Files Recovery is a data recovery utility that scans the hard drive or external drive for files that may have been accidentally deleted.[8] The program contains backup software that reserve copies of the files and folders.[9][7] The backup destination can be a USB flash drive, External HDD or FTP server. The Shredder feature is a data erasure tool that destroys so that even specialized software can not restore them.[7]

Cleaning

The Fast Cleanup feature is a disk cleaner that finds and removes junk files on the hard drive in order to free up space.[10] The Duplicates Finder will search the hard drive and locate multiple instances of the same file and allow the user to manually review the files to decide what files they would like to keep and what files they would like to delete.[7] Files Finder is a filter that can scan the hard drive for all files and allow the user to view only the selected file type. The Disk Usage feature scans the folders and marks them with different colors depending on the size of the content the folder contains. Smart Uninstaller removes widgets, applications, preference panes and plugins and their associated preferences, web caches and log files which still remain on the Mac's hard drive even after the item has been removed to the trash.

System optimization

Update Tracker checks each application installed on the Mac user's machine for the newest versions.[7] All apps are marked by color as up-to-date and out-of-date. Any out-of-date application can be updated manually. Login Items allows the user to manage start-up applications that launch automatically. Default Apps shows the associations between all file extensions and applications that open them. It helps to define which application will open each file type and allows the user to choose the methods.

Criticism

Zeobit has been accused of employing misleading advertising with regards to its promotion of MacKeeper, including aggressive affiliates, pop-under ads and planting sock-puppet reviews as well as websites set up to discredit their competitors.[11][12] ZeoBit claims that negative attacks were also launched against MacKeeper by an unnamed competitor, and that many users and press are confusing MacKeeper with another app.[13]

The Web of Trust website safety service gives Zeobit's Mackeeper website an "unsatisfactory" rating due to complaints of malware or viruses, spam, poor customer experience, misleading claims and ads and pop-ups. [14]

Lawsuits

In May of 2014 a lawsuit was filed against Kromtech in Pennsylvania, alleging that MacKeeper fakes security problems to deceive victims into paying for unneeded fixes.[15]

Reviews

The Safe Mac recommended users avoid MacKeeper, questioning not only Zeobit's general ethical conduct but finding the software unnecessary, overpriced and problematic to uninstall.[16] Macworld gave MacKeeper 3.5 out of 5 stars in August 2010, based on the 0.9.6 build of the program, and found it a reasonably priced set of tools but experienced lagging while switching between tools.[17] MacLife rated it at 2.5 out of 5 and said it to be useful mainly for freeing up drive space, but found other features offered inconsistent results and believed most users won’t need its antivirus feature.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ Arnolds, Scott. "MacKeeper: Deceptive Malware". University of Massachusetts. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  2. ^ "MacKeeper Review – Should You Install This Mac Utility Software?". Lure of Mac. Lure of Mac. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  3. ^ Stokes, Philip. "How to uninstall MacKeeper malware". http://applehelpwriter.com/. Apple Help Writer. Retrieved 25 September 2011. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  4. ^ Griffee, Simon. "MacKeeper Is Malware". http://hypertexthero.com. Hypertexthero. Retrieved 12 July 2014. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  5. ^ "New Version of MacKeeper released at the MacWorld". iWorld 2012 Expo. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  6. ^ "Kromtech Alliance Corp Acquires MacKeeper". PRWeb. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "MacKeeper". Softonic.com. n.d. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  8. ^ Vacca, John; Rudolph, K (2013). Easttom, Chuck (ed.). System Forensics, Investigation and Response (1 ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 219. ISBN 978-0763791346.
  9. ^ Spivey, Dwight (2011). Mac OS X Lion Portable Genius. Wiley. ISBN 978-1118022399.
  10. ^ Parrish, Robin (4 November 2011). "Review: MacKeeper". Apple Gazette.
  11. ^ "Is MacKeeper Really A Scam?".
  12. ^ "MacKeeper, a rather slimy tale".
  13. ^ Parrish, Robin (14 November 2011). "EXCLUSIVE: MacKeeper Says "Unethical Competitor Trying to Tarnish Our Reputation"". Apple Gazette. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  14. ^ http://www.mywot.com. Web of Trust https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/mackeeper.zeobit.com. Retrieved 12 July 2014. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ^ Lord, Rich. "Pennsylvania woman sues company that promises computer security". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  16. ^ "Beware MacKeeper".
  17. ^ "MacKeeper 0.9.6".
  18. ^ "MacKeeper System Maintenance Suite Review".
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