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About Mackeeper
If you have heard of MacKeeper, what you have heard is probably negative news. You may already know about aggressive advertising and scare software strategies that try to get people to spend money to solve problems they haven’t encountered. There were also data breaches that exposed the information of approximately 13 million users.
This is so bad that other antivirus products start to mark MacKeeper as PUP-a potentially harmful program.
Now, MacKeeper has regrouped. There is a new management team, the company has also cleaned up its intimidation (and affiliates accused of damaging its reputation), and the plan is now notarized by Apple.
So, is the current MacKeeper worth trying?
First let’s get to know the new Mackeeper 5:
How MacKeeper works
1. Run one-click scan
Get a bird’s eye view of your Mac’s storage, performance and security.
2. Fix items found
Review and fix items affecting your Mac experience in just a few clicks.
3. Enjoy a worry-free Mac
Let MacKeeper take care of your Mac—it’ll notify you if any action is needed.
Mackeeper Pros and Cons
Pros
- Many security, privacy, and performance features
- Integrated VPN
- Easy management of protection
- Useful range of features
Cons
- Some performance impacts
- No throttle controls
- Insufficient protection against malicious or fraudulent URLs
What Mackeeper Does
MacKeeper is divided into four modules: Clean, Performance, Security, and Privacy. Each section has three tools, most of which are free.
An optional subscription gives you antivirus protection and VPN, and since it’s aimed at less tech-savvy users, you can also get technical support via online or live chat as part of the premium plan.
When you first launch MacKeeper, it scans your Mac, runs sections of each module and highlights the elements to fix. If you have not paid at this stage, it will warn you that your Mac is unprotected and vulnerable.
MacKeeper performs a basic scan once a day and alerts you to any major issues that arise.You can also access all of its individual utilities separately.
The following describes the four modules of Mackeeper:
Cleaning and Performance
A set of tools for tuning Macs is included in the Cleaning and Performance module. They are effective software solutions for hardware problems.
In the Cleanup section, you get Safe Cleanup, which searches for unwanted data such as language files, logs and cache. There is also Duplicates Finder, which keeps track of multiple copies of the same file. Smart Uninstaller can completely remove applications as well as delete files left behind during previous uninstallations.
However, it doesn’t do much. Between them, these tools reclaim about 2.8GB of space on our drives. Not including the cache that macOS normally handles on its own, this drops to about 800MB. For reference, MacKeeper itself uses about 240MB, all set up and installed.
These utilities are for the rare spring cleaning, but if you need to use them regularly, you’ll have bigger problems.
In the Performance module, there is Memory Cleaner. this will try to free up RAM by closing background applications, but will achieve the same result as a restart. In any case, macOS handles memory very well without the need for third-party applications.
Login Items also duplicates something that already exists in macOS, a tool that lets you see some launched system processes (and applications) but provides no meaningful guidance on what you should or should not disable. Apple hid it for a reason.
The best is Update Tracker. this looks for updates to programs you’ve installed from outside the App Store. It works for most – but not all – of our apps, finding 16 available updates.
Security
Security is what MacKeeper is best known for. The main part of the security module is Antivirus, which you have to pay to activate.
Strangely enough, real-time protection is not enabled by default. Given that the application is aimed at more casual users, this seems to be something they could easily overlook. In addition to real-time scanning, you can perform a full scan or a custom scan to check individual files or folders.
It is difficult to judge the effectiveness of anti-virus software until you are infected. In addition, the jury is still out on whether Macs need antivirus software.
A full scan took about an hour and, unsurprisingly, found no problems. Unfortunately, services like AV Test have not independently tested MacKeeper’s antivirus capabilities, so it is difficult to accurately judge its effectiveness.
Other security tools are Adware Cleaner, which scans for adware and other malware. This also performs real-time scanning. Again, you have to activate it, this time by hiding the settings in Preferences.
A copy of the Find My feature, which MacKeeper calls Track My Mac, is also installed on every Mac. To justify its existence, it has an additional feature: It takes a picture of anyone who tries to log in but fails to log in to your computer.
You must install and activate it separately, a process that involves granting MacKeeper permission to track your location and use your camera.
We ran into problems. At first it had trouble finding our location, then it didn’t work at all and we had to reinstall MacKeeper to get it working again. We’ll stick with Apple’s version.
Privacy
The last module is Privacy. this provides StopAd, which installs ad-blocking extensions to Safari or Chrome. it also includes ID Theft Guard, which monitors email addresses for potential data leaks.
Theft Guard will show you if and how your address was involved in the breach, including listing any compromised passwords. You can add as many email addresses as you like, but must verify them to prove they are yours.
The main part of the Privacy module is the VPN called Private Connect . It is a simple service – for example, you can pick hundreds of servers from dozens of locations, but you cannot use any advanced features, such as termination switches.
During our testing, we did not experience any disconnections, but we noticed very little impact on performance. Selecting the best server option, we achieved an average speed of 36Mbps and a ping rate of 57ms, compared to 47Mbps and 18ms when it was turned off.
Connecting from the UK to New York, we achieved an average speed of 25.73Mbps and a ping rate of 159ms. however, this is still fast enough for Netflix
While more serious users like to research their VPN and may find the information on the MacKeeper service (including logging policies) a bit sparse, this is a good option for more casual users.
Mackeeper’s Current Price
Mackeeper’s prices are now much lower than before, you can try it for $1 before you buy it, and Mackeeper offers three price plans.
After Mackeeper came back, it is full of sincerity, compared to the previous has been a great improvement, but there are still some shortcomings need to improve, as far as the current Mackeeper, I think their products are worth a try. After all, they offer a $1 trial.
Why MacKeeper is the Ultimate Choice
Cleaning
Get total Mac junk cleanup to free up gigabytes of storage. You can teach an old Mac new tricks.
Performance
Unleash the full power of your Mac. This is what real memory, startup, and performance optimization feels like.
Privacy & Security
No matter the threat, we’ve got your back. MacKeeper protects your Mac from viruses and adware as well as guarding your data from online identity theft.
Get rid of junk files, unneeded mail attachments, and trash on your Mac.
Find and delete duplicate files, which take up extra space.
Uninstall unneeded apps, widgets, plugins, and browser extensions.
Manage your Mac’s memory for a smoother performance.
Keep your apps up to date to ensure you have the latest security updates.
Reduce your Mac startup time by reviewing and disabling apps that overload the system.
Protect your Mac from malware with real-time protection.
Find and delete malicious apps that annoy you with ads, quickly and effortlessly.
Check and monitor your personal data for data breaches with instant alerts.
Browse securely with an anonymous internet connection.
Enjoy ad-free web browsing and searching with a smart browser extension.
Conclusion
MacKeeper has a nice set of network security and performance optimization features. While I feel that anti-virus scanning could be more thorough, VPN, ID Theft Guard and StopAd will ensure a high level of security when you browse online. I recommend MacKeeper to anyone who has used anti-virus software before. it’s really worth trying!
Pros
- Many security, privacy, and performance features
- Integrated VPN
- Easy management of protection
- Useful range of features
Cons
- Some performance impacts
- No throttle controls
- Insufficient protection against malicious or fraudulent URLs
Average Rating