You’ve probably seen ads for MacKeeper. It’s hard to avoid them. They pop up at the top of webpages promising that your Mac will run much better if you install it but do you really know what MacKeeper is or what it’s doing?

These days we have to be careful. Don’t install software unless you’re sure it’s good. Just last month we learned of some ransomeware that was released that if it gets installed on a Mac it will encrypt files which will only be unlocked if the computer’s owner pays a ransom.

There are a few ways to protect yourself from these attacks. The most important thing is to be careful and know what you’re installing. With great power comes great responsibility. In this case it means informing yourself before you install software. An easy way to do this is to only install software from the MacApp Store or from Self Service at ISB. If the software you’re interested in isn’t available at these two places then you need to be more careful. Do your homework. Do a quick search online to see what others are saying about the software.

I did a quick Google search for MacKeeper. Here are some of the hits I had on the first page of Google. What ‘MacKeeper’ is and why you should avoid it | iMore, How to uninstall MacKeeper from your Mac | Macworld, Is MacKeeper Really A Scam? | Cult of Mac, 13 Million MacKeeper Users Exposed — Krebs on Security, and Here’s what MacKeeper is — and why you should avoid it.

I don’t know if MacKeeper is bad but it doesn’t pass my test for software. It isn’t available on the MacApp Store or Self Service. Also, my quick online search suggests there are a lot of people not happy with the software. I’m not installing it!

BTW the ICT Office did a quick scan and found 131 people at ISB have installed MacKeeper on their MacBooks. Here’s an article at MacWorld that shows how to uninstall it.