how to uninstall MacKeeper – updated
why is my mac running so slow?
block MacKeeper and other browser ads
protect your mac from malware, viruses and other threats
comment désinstaller MacKeeper
news: DetectX 2 is available now
how to uninstall MacBooster
news: FastTasks v2.4 update released
news: DetectX v2.14 released
how to keep the iDoctor away
scan for malware on the command line
Mac Media Player’s secret MacKeeper installer
latest MacKeeper file paths
block MacKeeper and other browser ads
Generally, I like to keep browser extensions down to a minimum, but here’s an essential one if you are tired of all those ‘Clean your mac’ / ‘Speed up your mac’ ads on every website you visit. Download and install the Safari adblock extension from here:
What I like about this particular adblocker is that, if you go with the default filters, not only does it load your pages faster but it also reformats the page as if the ads were never even there, rather than leaving unsightly, blank placeholders in the page as some other ad filtering services do.
The extension is free, though you’re encouraged to donate if you appreciate the work done by the developer.
Related Posts
how to uninstall MacKeeper
protect your mac from malware, viruses and other threats
If you’re new to Mac, you’re probably thinking that it’s a no-brainer that you need some kind of anti-virus app. Once you start looking around the web for reviews, it’s inevitable that you’re going to come across the Great Mac AntiVirus Debate: in the one corner, those who say Mac users who forego antivirus protection are arrogant and just setting themselves up for a fall, and in the other those who’ve used Macs for umpteen years, never had or heard of any real threat, and consequently say AV software is a waste of time.
You can read round this debate for years and never come to a satisfying conclusion, largely because its as much about what you ‘ought’ to do as it is about what is the case. Just because you’ve never had any viruses, doesn’t mean you won’t get one tomorrow. And yet, there are NO viruses in the wild known to affect macs, and so when one does arrive, it will be unknown to your AV scanner. Hence, an AV Scanner is just a waste of system resources (and possibly money, if you paid for it). Yikes! What do I do!!
What you do is sidestep the whole debate and stop thinking only about virus scanners, which after all deal with only a small subset of all the possible attack vectors in the internet age, and start thinking in terms of vulnerability scanners. Unlike a simple virus scanner, a vulnerability scanner examines your system not only for malware but also for any vulnerabilities in commercial software, plug ins, your system setup (including network and other sharing settings) and other installed items. The scanner will not only explain the threat and its severity but also tell you what, if anything, you need to do, recommend patches and guide you to links for more info where available.
You can use something like Nessus for free if you are a home user, which will give you a far better insight into the possible attacks someone could implement on your system (and it will check your system against almost all of the major virus scanner databases like Symantec, etc).
Even better, a vulnerability scanner like Nessus won’t just examine your machine, it’ll look at everything else (and all the installed apps) of anything on your home network including phones (any platform), other computer systems (any OS), and even your router.
news: DetectX 2 is available now
We’ve spent pretty much the whole of the summer working on this upgrade, so we’re both delighted (and not a little relieved!) to finally be able to announce the release of DetectX 2.
If you were a user of earlier versions of DetectX the most obvious change you’ll notice is the new Selector bar, and the additional functions it offers. Now, DetectX is far more than just a dedicated search tool and offers comprehensive logging, browsing and analytical tools to make troubleshooting new problems on your mac a whole lot easier.
If you’ve used the Analyser in our app FastTasks 2, you’ll recognize the new functions added to DetectX. But we’ve not just taken the Analyser straight out of FT2 and plumped it into DetectX, we’ve also made it more powerful and more convenient to use.
There’s a whole bunch of changes you can find out about from the DetectX page and from the included user guide (improved documentation is another one of the changes!). One thing that hasn’t changed: DetectX remains free for home users, so there’s nothing to stop you from trying it out. Commercial and institutional users should note that a Commercial Use licence is required. Details are in the app.
Well, now that the app is out you’d think we’d be taking a break, but we’re already working on a special release of DetectX for Snow Leopard users. We know you 10.6’ers have been left out in the cold since release 1.29, but hold tight. Some Leopardy love is coming your way real soon!
On top of that, we’re already working on new definitions to be added to the next update to make sure DetectX keeps finding all those new annoyances that keep popping up and keeping your Mac happy and responsive.
If you haven’t already, go check out the DetectX page for more info.
how to uninstall MacBooster
We are decidedly not impressed with MacBooster. Ok, we’ll put aside the general complaint that apps like this do very little if anything to improve performance (in fact, in our tests, we find almost always quite the opposite). We have a bigger beef with MacBooster.
Indeed, we rate it even more pesky than it’s obvious inspiration: MacKeeper…
Aside from the fact that MacBooster’s uninstaller leaves a number of executables and other binary files hidden on the user’s system, there’s also the rather cheeky use of ‘com.apple.UninstallerAD” as a bundle identifier in their uninstaller app.
I really don’t think the folks at Cupertino are going to appreciate that, but more importantly the use of a misleading bundle identifier reveals a lot about the developers’ intentions.
We’ve added MacBooster to DetectX (v.2.06) and it will be included in the next update to FastTasks 2.
Meanwhile, whether you use our apps or not, steer clear of MacBooster.
If you’d rather dig it out yourself than use DetectX, here’s the list of paths we have so far:
/Applications/MacBooster 3.app
/Users/Shared/MacBooster/FileData3
/Users/Shared/MacBooster/Boost3.plist
/Users/Shared/MacBooster
/Library/Caches/AMCExtractByte
/Library/Caches/AMCInstallTemp.txt
/Library/Application Support/AMC
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.iobit.AMCDaemon.plist
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.iobit.MacBoosterMini.plist
~/Library/Application Support/ErrorReporter
~/Library/Application Support/MacBooster
~/Library/Application Support/MacBooster 3.0
~/Library/Preferences/cryptFile3
~/Library/Preferences/com.iobit.Boost3.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.iobit.MacBooster-3.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.iobit.MacBooster-mini.plist
news: FastTasks v2.4 update released
FT2 v2.4 is now available from sqwarq.com.
This update includes a new ‘delete’ button in the Analyser and an auto-kill feature which searches for and kills MacKeeper processes running in the background when the Analyser is run.
The release notes are here.
news: DetectX v2.14 released
Yes, two in two days! We’ve added a Preference Pane since yesterday, and improved the performance of the search function. Note that the new Sparkle Vulnerability check we introduced in v2.13 is now off by default. It can be turned on from the Preference Pane (see above).
Other changes are listed in the release notes.
DetectX is still free, fully-functional, and without time-limit for home users. Available for download from here.
how to keep the iDoctor away
DetectX has been updated today to v2.37, and amongst other changes now detects and removes iDoctor.app. This piece of software appears to be another MacKeeper clone, with both sharing a common interface, code and file structures.
In the screenshot above, you can see DetectX doing its work – note the parallel file detections as DetectX hunts down both MacKeeper and iDoctor.
Below is a sidebar shot of MacKeeper on the left and iDoctor on the right. Underneath that are shots showing how the two interfaces are almost direct mirrors of each other. It’s hard to believe these are not both being built from the same base code, and we strongly suspect that the developers of iDoctor are very likely the same developers of MacKeeper, or at least real close friends!