MacKeeper is a nasty piece of malware. I couldn't quit the program, it would immediately start back and putting it in the trash did nothing. Ended up having to boot into safe mode and remove.
Well as soon as I got it off my computer in Safe mode and restarted I get a prohibited sign. Mac will not boot. Ended up having to reinstall OS X. Thankfully you are able to reinstall and keep your files. Now I stay up to date on my backups!
I don't see why apple doesn't ban them. Obviously they are shady.
Since then, a few of my friends, who aren't into tech, almost installed MacKeeper. They all had a long history of using Windows and felt that installing some Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware junk was the most natural thing. For normal users it's really hard to distinguish between legitimate applications/websites and shady stuff.
Even in the Mac App Store, Apple permits scammy apps such as "Memory Clean" [1] that consistently ends up in top ranks/top grossing. For one, "RAM cleaning" does nothing helpful and theoretically can make your Mac less performant. Bonus: the app calls home to push the developer's other apps.
I'm surprised stuff like this prospers in plain sight with Apple's tacit approval. Snake oil for non-power users who don't know better.
[1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/memory-clean/id451444120?mt=...
The number of users may also reflect their pushy "you need this!" marketing. I installed MacKeeper a few days after switching from Windows to Mac, as I had no idea what I was doing. Ended up uninstalling it, then reinstalling OS X from scratch just in case.
Get to any Windows user, and ask him when was the last time his anti-virus stopped him from doing anything. Malware has adapted since the 90's.
Mr. Thomas released a proof-of-concept (POC) demonstrating how visiting a specially crafted webpage in Safari causes the affected system to execute arbitrary commands – in this case, to uninstall MacKeeper.
Source: http://securemac.com/MacKeeper_Security_Advisory_Revised.php
Or, you know, don't use MacKeeper ever?
(Oh, and it bundles a bunch of inferior versions of features already built-in to Mac OS X, like backups, file searching, data encryption, secure delete, login item disabling, default app selection, etc.)
I guess it's a "flaw" but whoever put that in knew that would come back to bite. Haha, it's so insanely irresponsible that I don't even know where to start.
We need something like a hippocratic oath, and probably a governing body (or however grown up industries manage themselves), to stop people responsible for this sort of code from having a license to practice.
Seriously, given the intensely spammy nature of the product's ads I'm unclear if this counts as a 0-day or a FEATURE.
-- MacKeeper campaign, 2013
This is interesting considering that the UK providers generally provide more data to users for less money than US providers (with quite a few offering unlimited).
http://haktuts.blogspot.in/2015/05/how-to-view-hidden-friend...
