Macbook cleaner

[Madison May]

so my last macbook I used MacKeeper and was very happy with it. I got a new macbook Sunday and went to add it to my new one and when I did a google search for the page it bought it lots of threads of people saying not to use it and it's bad bla bla bla =( is it really that bad? I don't speak computer lol What product should I be using? Please pm or email me I don't wanna do the internet with out a condom

[Unique_Carpenter]

Here's an Article from PC World that lists the better MAC anti virus programs that have all been reviewed last several weeks.

http://www.pcmag.com/reviews/antivirus

Some of the programs have different strengths or weaknesses, so how you use the mac is key to which you may prefer.

I have Windows equip and use Kaspersky for everything, but I have a blanket license.
But their MAC program is well regarded.

This board site, ignoring the ad popups, is surprisingly clean.

[gyrfalcone]

Originally Posted by Madison May

so my last macbook I used MacKeeper and was very happy with it. I got a new macbook Sunday and went to add it to my new one and when I did a google search for the page it bought it lots of threads of people saying not to use it and it's bad bla bla bla =( is it really that bad? I don't speak computer lol What product should I be using? Please pm or email me I don't wanna do the internet with out a condom

MacKeeper is fine. I read a few things about it that might be true. It is over priced and it may use up too many resources. But you have had a good experience with it and I think that is more important than the possible drawbacks.

MacKeeper is basically running Avira which is one of the best f?a?ree antivirus system!

[oesman]

No one really needs this cleaner and similar software. Most of this shit for mac/pc/tablets/smartphones/etc... is just snake oil, scareware or at best fix problems that don't really need fixing or aren't really even problems. Just run a free version of a decent antivirus like Avast, use common sense, and you'll be fine.

All this MacKeeper style stuff is like the magic liquids the auto parts store sells that claim to fix everything if you pour it in your gas tank, oil, coolant or other fluid. Some people say that stuff does something for them, but at the end of the day cars like computers are systems which can be properly used and maintained and you don't need a magic gimmick to do it.

The stuff it promises to fix like freeing up space can easily be done by organizing your files (movies, music, photos, etc...) and of course uninstalling software you don't use. This is what most space on your mac is used by, if you have a 512GB SSD in your mac and 500GB of movies and music, what's it going to do for you? Either you need to delete some movies or move them somewhere else. The other stuff it claims to clear is questionable, it's going to be stuff like application's caches, all that stuff usually doesn't amount to much and do you really want some 3rd party app messing with it? All those caches exist for a reason, they speed up performance or are needed as working space for the application. Like your browser cache speeds up page loads. Furthermore if freeing an extra gigabyte of storage makes or breaks you then you have the wrong size disk for your needs and need a network storage system or simply an external disk.

There's nothing corrupt that it needs to fix and as far as performance gains, it's all bullshit, just don't install random software you don't need that runs in the background. Basically don't be the person with 20 weather plugins and a million other "crapware" apps all over their desktop. Just install software you need that's trusted (i.e. Chrome, Avast, Office, Firefox, Picasa, KeePass, iTunes, Photoshop, etc...) and stay away from random shit that advertises via banner ads, pop ups, pages you can't leave like "Are you sure you want to leave?! How about $4.99!?", it's all bullshit. Don't install random download managers (i.e. download.com), don't install sketchy browser plugins, don't listen to any of those sites that are like "omg your computer is fucked call support". Where "support" is going to be an indian guy running a scam who will try to con you into giving him remote access to your computer at which point he will demand $200 to "fix it".

Basically the internet is like the most ghetto open air market in the world, treat it with suspicion.

[gyrfalcone]

As Madison said "I don't speak computer" therefore it will be much easier to just run MacKeeper and have a good experience than try to do all the computer stuff manually that some people can do naturally.


In my experience providing computer support for nurses and doctors, it is far better to have a good, easy to use expensive system rather than a cheap complicated system that works better than everything else. Those were some hard lessons.

Plus Madison said she has used it before and it worked for her.

If there was anything bad in it or if it was a complete waste of money I'd recommend against it. But it has some value. Therefore my professional recommendation as someone who works with computers is to get it. Now I don't recommend this carte blanche. Each situation is unique and what one end user needs is not necessarily what another end user needs.

[oesman]

Originally Posted by gyrfalcone

As Madison said "I don't speak computer" therefore it will be much easier to just run MacKeeper and have a good experience than try to do all the computer stuff manually that some people can do naturally.

The problem is that she wants to maintain her new macbook just like a customer may want to maintain their car. Would it be cool if the service manager at the dealership said: "Don't know much about cars huh? Well you can just go to Autozone and buy whatever magic mechanic in a bottle you used before that you liked. Go ahead and just pour that in the gas tank as your service schedule, can't hurt!" Lots of people claim good experiences with that Autozone isle too, but logic says that's bad advice overall. I think recommending such products, regardless of the person saying "I liked it before", is doing the person a disservice.

Essentially bullshit/scareware products like MacKeeper exist for the same reason those magic car elixirs exist; To aggressively market to and even trick retail consumers who are unsophisticated with the particular technology into buying a junk product. MacKeeper has already been taken to court for these kind of practices and IMO they're lucky they're going to get to settle up $$$. I personally knew a guy that the government came and fucked up for scaring potential customers into buying his "pc and registry cleaner" product which didn't do anything other than stop the customer from receiving his scary marketing alerts. Some states are starting to make this shit illegal which is how he went down since he sold in that state.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/29192...-birthday.html

AV Comparatives, an Austrian company that evaluates antivirus programs, recently tested the latest trial version of MacKeeper at the request of IDG News Service. It was installed on a fresh, fully patched version of OS X Yosemite, Apple’s latest operating system. In theory, the system should have had no problems.

MacKeeper warned in red in several places with exclamation points that the computer’s condition was “serious” due to more than 500MB of “junk” files.

After fixing 85 files for free, it warned more than 1,500 need cleaning—but only if the full version of the program was purchased. Those that supposedly need cleaning up included language files.

[Madison May]

thank you guys =)

[JRLawrence]

Originally Posted by Madison May

so my last macbook I used MacKeeper and was very happy with it. I got a new macbook Sunday and went to add it to my new one and when I did a google search for the page it bought it lots of threads of people saying not to use it and it's bad bla bla bla =( is it really that bad? I don't speak computer lol What product should I be using? Please pm or email me I don't wanna do the internet with out a condom

Is it really that bad? You really don't need to clean your Mac. The Mac is not a PC, and you usually don't have the problems that are seen on a PC.

If you are talking about "Clean your Mac" pop up stuff. YES!. DO NOT DOWN LOAD IT. It puts stuff on your computer that you do not want. If you are looking at something and this thing pops up, stop what you are doing and go to the little apple in the top left corner of your screen and click on force quit. Under the force quit menu that comes up select your browser (such as safari) and click on it and force quit to shut down the browser. Now then, when you reopen the browser sometimes it will put you back into the same area you were and the program will still be there (and sometimes if you slow click or slow double click) it will ask if you want to reopen the old windows. Duh, NO.

Sometimes with the web stuff, it is grabbing Safari; so force quit, and then to to the applications folder to find the browser and open from the true file - not the application alias bar on the side or bottom of the screen (where you placed it)

Now, that being said. Thunderbird gives a lot better private browsing than Safari. I have used Safari, and know it, but recently the spammers have figured out a way to worm their way in on top of it. Just force close and then remove that address that is sending the popup. Never accept an offered download from any site associated with dating, or porn. Force quit the application to get out of a lock up that asked you to download.

MacKeeper has been described by various sources as highly invasive malware* that can de-stablize your operating system, adding that it is unethically marketed, with a history of making false advertising claims, by a company called Zeobit, and a rip-off.

Good luck sweetheart.

JR

[oesman]

Originally Posted by JRLawrence

The Mac is not a PC, and you usually don't have the problems that are seen on a PC.

I agree 100% with everything you said, but I feel the need to be pedantic anyway. Technically Mac is now PC too. You're right that it's not windows and it's not linux, it's actually unix based but it's still AMD64 (AKA x86_64) now just like all other modern PC systems. Apple ditched IBM's PowerPC in 2006 and went PC on Intel hardware. This is why you can now run OS X on your PC hardware as "Hackintosh".