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MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

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Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#31

I have a MacKeeper related question: are apps such as this (cleaners, antivirus etc.) necessary for Mac computers? Judging by the number of users affected by this, there are a lot of people thinking they do need it, I guess.

Not usually, but a lot of users coming from Windows just reflexively install a cleaner/AV anyway.

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#32

I have a MacKeeper related question: are apps such as this (cleaners, antivirus etc.) necessary for Mac computers? Judging by the number of users affected by this, there are a lot of people thinking they do need it, I guess.

I don't feel they are necessary, even for less advanced users. Apple do a reasonably good job of keeping things safe and up-to-date.

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.

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#33
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once saw a coworker accidentially installing it and it surely is a nasty piece of malware. The problem is that one can never be quite sure whether every piece of the software was removed, which is why we ended up just reinstalling OS X and avoid guessing. 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…

Their website[1] looks awesome, I don't own a Mac (Windows user) but if I were to buy one I would definitely consider buying and using it. It's good that this site[2] is the second result on Google for "mac keeper" though. 1. http://mackeeper.com 2. http://www.imore.com/avoid-mackeeper

Interestingly the toolkit shown is the Ikea toolkit "Fixa" - I wonder if there's not IP restrictions on their use of such an image.

Edit: I saw this quote on the Mackeeper website you linked (it is good design) "MacKeeper was noticed at Macworld by a journalist from Cult of Mac". So I chased that phrase and all I found was algorithmic page generators like this http://drgogek.com/is/is-mackeeper-really-a-scam-cult-of-mac....

Using a different tack CoM mention Mackeeper in a single page found from their search box, an affiliate promotion page ... using Google unearths more promotions, https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Acultofmac.com mackeeper.

So, it looks like their quoted reviews are from people they're paying to sell the product, that's a warning sign.

Didn't investigate further.

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#34
post #16

Not sure if anyone knowingly installs MacKeeper but I accidentally accepted the download for MacKeeper when I was trying to install a Camera app. Big mistake and I tried to stop the installation. 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…

Interesting, I wonder if that was an older version or perhaps even a modified version. The uninstall instructions[1] look pretty simple to me. [1] http://mackeeper.com/uninstall_mackeeper

If it was only that easy! Those instructions never worked for me and some other users from at least 2014.[1] Its entirely possible they send different versions for bundled installs or it was modified. The app it was bundled with got promptly deleted and never opened.

[1]https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6502268

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#35
post #32

I have a MacKeeper related question: are apps such as this (cleaners, antivirus etc.) necessary for Mac computers? Judging by the number of users affected by this, there are a lot of people thinking they do need it, I guess.

I don't feel they are necessary, even for less advanced users. Apple do a reasonably good job of keeping things safe and up-to-date. 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.

That's what I thought, thanks. I'm a newish Mac user, so I was a bit confused by the whole situation, since other Mac I know told me not to install anything of that kind.

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#37
post #31

I have a MacKeeper related question: are apps such as this (cleaners, antivirus etc.) necessary for Mac computers? Judging by the number of users affected by this, there are a lot of people thinking they do need it, I guess.

Not usually, but a lot of users coming from Windows just reflexively install a cleaner/AV anyway.

Cool. I'll stick to the "no cleaners" personal policy then.

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#38

I have a MacKeeper related question: are apps such as this (cleaners, antivirus etc.) necessary for Mac computers? Judging by the number of users affected by this, there are a lot of people thinking they do need it, I guess.

The thing is, those apps aren't very useful at Windows either.

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.

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