Give Proper Care to Your Mac with MacKeeper

Mac is not just a beautiful, smooth-to-the-touch computer with cool stuff inside that would constantly keep you happy and satisfied. First of all it’s a complex but at the same time fragile system that needs constant care and maintenance. Remember: your Mac won’t always be as good as new, therefore something needs to be done to prevent it from becoming a sluggish low performer.

Exactly these thoughts were on my mind when I was looking for maintenance apps for my Mac. I wanted to compile a set of tools and utilities that would perfectly suit all of my needs. During this search I was lucky to stumble upon MacKeeper. Its developers claimed that this system utility was actually a bundle of many apps that would help my Mac a lot and even act like a 911 service for it. Well, that was exactly what I had been looking for – a compilation of maintenance stuff, but in one place, so this app had me at hello and I decided to write a MacKeeper review.

When I first opened MacKeeper, I gave proper respect to its look and feel. Nice, intuitive and Mac style user interface – that’s how all Mac apps should look like.

As you see, there are five categories for all of MacKeeper’s features: Security, Data Control, Cleaning, Optimization, and Geek on Demand.

I’ll start my MacKeeper review with those that include the least features – Security and Geek on Demand.

Security

Naysayers see no need for Mac OS antiviruses, and I must admit I didn’t use them as well. However, MacKeeper developers claimed that this antivirus offered protection from Windows threats as well, so I decided to install it, as some extra security would never hurt. Moreover, recently there’s been news about MacDefender attacks, so better keep eyes peeled on all of these threats. I’d also recommend MacKeeper Antivirus to those who work with Parallels Desktop. But if you are a Mac geek, you wouldn’t want to install it. MacKeeper’s malware scanner is quite easy to use and includes everything a standard antivirus should possess: real-time protection, scan for viruses, virus database updates, quarantine… It also has a convenient scheduling feature with which your Mac can run automatic virus scans at specified time intervals. MacKeeper virus scan made my Mac a bit slow, maybe because it was the first scan.  Anyway, I disabled the real-time protection option as the feature description in the sidebar said it might consume some of my Mac’s resources.

I was rather skeptical about another feature under Security – Anti-Theft. But then, when I understood its working principle and read the customer feedback at http://mackeeper.zeobit.com/blog/anti-theft, I got very much excited about it. Just imagine – this service can pick up the trail of your Mac in case it gets stolen and even make a photo of the criminal (or maybe your friend or relative – this could also happen!) who took it away. I hope I’ll never have to use this service, but anyway I enabled it, as to my mind it is a must-have for any MacBook laptop.

Geek on Demand

Besides Anti-Theft, MacKeeper features another online service called Geek on Demand. For many Mac users, issues like configuring a remote desktop connection or choosing an external hard drive may sound like double Dutch. As far as I understood, MacKeeper’s Geek on Demand service is like having a personal expert at hand ready to answer all of your tech questions, and these questions don’t have to be related to MacKeeper only. On the flip side, sometimes you’ll have to wait for 48 hours for your issue to be processed, so for urgent questions better find a Mac nerd in your neighborhood. As for me, I didn’t try this service as I have no need in it, but for sure it is indispensable for beginners.

Optimization

For me, the only noteworthy tool in the Optimization set is Update Tracker. If downloading and installing updates is a headache for you, than this tool is exactly what you need. It will show you all of your apps divided into out of date and up to date categories, and you can update them in one pack. There’s also a Favorite list for the apps you’d like to update first, and a Blacklist for the apps you’d like to be ignored by Update Tracker.

Data Control

The winner in MacKeeper’s Data Control set is undoubtedly Undelete. The words “data loss” probably ring a bell to everyone who owns a computer, so data recovery software is a must nowadays. I’m talking about the files that were removed even from Trash. MacKeeper’s Undelete tool will scan your Mac’s hard drive for recoverable files, and you’re lucky if it finds your loss, as the sooner you discover the loss, the more chances you have. By the way, you can preview the found files with Quick Look before recovery.

Another problem with your data is some nosy people that can get access to confidential info. So if you don’t want someone else to see the seamy side of your life, use data encryption. MacKeeper’s Data Encryptor is a reliable means of protecting your precious files. It supports the AES-128 and AES-256 encryption standards, protects your files with password and hides file names on the disk. However, if you forget the encryption password, you won’t be able to find your encrypted files, and this is what I don’t like about Data Encryptor. Apart from this, the tool is simple and pretty handy.

You should also be aware that your confidential data can be accessed even after deletion thanks to data recovery tools. To prevent this from happening, use MacKeeper’s Shredder tool. It will help you dispose of your files as if they’ve never existed. Not half bad! The pic may seem rather intimidating, but it cannot even be called a drawback when making a MacKeeper review.

Finally, if you have no intention to use Undelete that often, you should backup your files. MacKeeper’s Backup tool beats Time Machine as it enables you to create backups on external storage devices, not only on your Mac. For example, I backup my work documents to my flash drive. And, like Antivirus, MacKeeper’s Backup has a scheduling feature for automatic backups. Simple and convenient!

Cleaning

There’s no wonder that Cleaning is the largest feature set of MacKeeper, as junk files wasting space on a hard drive can be a source of most Mac problems. If your Mac runs slow and freezes, it’s a wake-up call that it desperately needs cleaning. And, to my mind, MacKeeper’s Cleaning features are the best when it comes to cleanup routine. The first tool in the Cleaning group – Fast Cleanup – consists of four little cleaners that will thoroughly scan your Mac for cache files, log files, language files (interface localizations you don’t need) and binary files (parts of applications not needed by your Mac). You can disable the cleaners you don’t want to use. For example, I don’t use Binaries Cutter, as it tends to remove parts of some apps that are actually not that useless.

Then comes Duplicates Finder that detects file copies scattered all over your Mac’s hard drive. If you don’t need these copies, just select them and click Remove. But be careful when using this feature, as for example you may delete all music from your iTunes library which duplicates all files you add from your Mac. Don’t trust the automated decisions of the software – only you can define which files to remove and which to leave.

The Files Finder tool is actually not a cleaner but rather an advanced version of Spotlight. You can give various criteria to search for specific files, which may come in handy when, for instance, you forget the file name. But still Spotlight seems more convenient to me.

The Disk Usage tool also serves more for informational purposes than for cleaning ones. It’s an easy way to see all of the files and folders on your Mac in full view marked with different colors depending on size.

I’ve always missed uninstallers in Mac apps. Of course it’s pretty easy to drag an app to the Trash, but then suddenly components of this app would appear here and there, urging you to remove them one by one. That’s why I was happy to discover an uninstaller in an enormous set of MacKeeper’s features. It showed me all apps, widgets, preference panes and plugins installed on my Mac with all of their additional components. Just one click – and all unneeded apps were completely gone, without any leftovers. So sweet!

Bottom Line

MacKeeper is a nice bundle of apps that can really act like 911 in some cases. Its advantages are excellent Anti-Theft service, decent Data Control and Optimization toolsets, smart cleaners, uninstaller that is really wise, and all of this for $39.95 only. For me it has become a lifesaver when it comes to keeping my apps up to date, protecting data on my Mac and keeping my system clean. As nothing is ideal in this world, the software also has drawbacks, such as inability to recover encrypted items in case of password loss and a couple of features that most Mac users could live without. Apart from this, everything’s just fine, so after MacKeeper review I would give this app 4.5 stars out of 5.

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