04-10-2012, 06:44 PM

In response to an ad for MacKeeper, I logged into their site, but did not download the s/w. Since then I have had problems with my Mac. Has anyone else had this experience?

Here is more info: I accessed the site and read quite a bit on it. Something did not feel right, so I left it and looked for reviews. I looked at the reviews I found first, and they also seemed peculiar -- for example, they had the same look and feel as the MAcKeeper site, including the type of, and phrasing of, the praise they gave the app.

Then I watched the MacWorld presentation about MacKeeper and read the comments shown below the presentation video, including some that said the application was devious and some that implied it was dangerous. This seemed peculiar.

Then I began to have problems -- for example, my Word interface lost all of its scrollbars and also the info at the bottom of the page -- page number, etc. Similarly, Firefox began to display windows and tabs differently and, starting a day or two ago, the Window list at the top of the screen no longer showed all of the windows or tabs that are open. At this point it shows only the current tab.

Do you think this is just coincidence, or could the MacKeeper site have allowed infiltration to my machine?

I live where Mac service is difficult to get. Today I decided to look again at the comments on the MacWorld presentation. Those comments are now not on the page. I also looked for more reviews of the app, and found several that explicitly said the app was destructive, including one that suggested the destructiveness was deliberate. In addition to those, I found "reviews" that were ads, including one that seemed to start a download. I closed it immediately without studying it, so perhaps it was only some sort of video.

What do you think?

04-11-2012, 12:07 AM

First off, MacKeeper is held in VERY LOW regard here. De-installing it is at the top of my personal recommendations for any and all troubleshooting. Our complete disdain for that junk can be found in numerous other threads, so I'll leave that at that.

It's highly unlikely the website itself did anything to your system. What have you installed recently? Any maintenance or "cleaning" tools? You should also go ahead and check your system for malware. There's one recent variation that is estimated to have infected 1% of all Macs, which is actually quite a lot if true. Use ClamXav to scan your system.

04-11-2012, 06:11 AM

That is a relief (hearing the MacKeeper site itself would not infect my iMac). Do you have other ideas as to what caused my problems? The only s/w I've installed lately is an update for FlashPlayer. However I did join Facebook abt a month ago.

I live in Ethiopia, and am an unsophisticate regarding my Mac, using it only for word processing and email and other basic internet functions. I'm running 10.5.4 on an iMac I bought in the US at the end of 2007. There's no satisfactory Mac service here as far as I know, though we do have one authorized dealer/service center in the capital (Addis Ababa. I live in the countryside).

I have never cleaned my iMac, or in any other way tried to affect how it runs. I'd like to do that and to restore the functions I've lost this week.

o Is there a built-in routine I can run regularly for cleaning?

o Abt restoring the lost functions, can you give guidance?
Though the problems relate to applications, they appeared
at the same time.

- How can I restore the Word functions that no longer appear --
scroll bars, bottom-of-page info?

- How can I restore the complete list of internet windows and
tabs that the Window pulldown at the top of the screen gave
before?

Why would the pulldown stop listing all of my windows and
instead show only the one I'm working on?

Has Firefox changed the window/tab display in the last week?
How about gMail, for Basic HTML?

04-11-2012, 09:09 AM

I should probably backtrack myself on whether or not the site could have infected your system. I doubt the official site would have, but if you got scammed into visiting a fake one, that may have been set up to deliver malware. The older versions of OS X and Flash Player you are running do have unpatched vulnerabilities. The most recent piece of malware out now is estimated to affect 1% of all Macs. While that seems relatively trivial, that's actually a higher percentage of infected units than the worst piece of Windows malware, Conficker, infected at 0.7%. I would certainly scan your system with ClamXav.

That said, I doubt it's malware. It sounds more like something is corrupt. If you are lucky, a simple cache cleaning will set things straight. You can use Onyx for that. Just run its full suite of cleaning and maintenance tools. This is not something you need to do on a regular basis, I should add.

If that doesn't fix things, you may have more serious issues due to a failing hard drive that is leading to lost/corrupt files. Onyx will do a SMART status check on your drive, but that's only really valid for a drive with an imminent critical failure. You can use SMART Utility to do a more thorough check. It's not free, but has a free trial so take advantage of it. More about that software here:
Too much space used in Hard drive

If the drive checks out, then try creating a new user and then use those apps again. If do NOT have problems under the new user, then this should be a much simpler fix. If you DO continue to have problems, then reinstall the apps.

04-11-2012, 02:08 PM

Thanks for all the specific advice. I've got 2 questions about ClamXav.

You suggest I scan the entire hard drive?

ClamXav says to backup all data before using it. However, I have nothing to backup to. Locating something here (Ethiopia) for that function is very time-consuming and very expensive. However, is it necessary?

04-11-2012, 03:44 PM

A couple of Onyx questions:

They say -- "To run correctly, OnyX must be run from an admin account."
How do/must I set up an admin account? I am the only user on my machine.

They also say -- "Make sure you have the latest update of Mac OS X. Get the latest update by choosing Apple menu > System Preferences..., then clicking Software Update, and then Update Now or Check Now. After you install an update, it's a good idea to click Update Now or Check Now again to make sure you've gotten all the latest versions. A restart may be required. To get the latest upgrade to Mac OS X, visit www.apple.com/macosx"

Must I upgrade my OS? The Onyx download page says the s/w works for all OSs from 10.4 and up (I have 10.4.5). I don't want to deal with the scramble an update has always caused in the past, and I don't have the funds to pay for a new OS.

Thanks

04-11-2012, 03:46 PM

ClamXav says to backup all data before using it. However, I have nothing to backup to. Locating something here (Ethiopia) for that function is very time-consuming and very expensive. However, is it necessary?

It's not just because ClamXav recommends it, it's because if your hard drive crashes while you're there in Ethiopia, it will cost you more in time and expense to recover lost data. So to answer your question above, yes, it's necessary in my opinion.

04-12-2012, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by celebrateoften

Thanks for all the specific advice. I've got 2 questions about ClamXav.

You suggest I scan the entire hard drive?

Of course

ClamXav says to backup all data before using it. However, I have nothing to backup to. Locating something here (Ethiopia) for that function is very time-consuming and very expensive. However, is it necessary?

As chscag said, it's only necessary if you value your data. Hard drives crash, often without warning. You should ALWAYS have a backup if you can't risk losing anything on the main drive. Always always always!!!!!!

Originally Posted by celebrateoften

A couple of Onyx questions:

They say -- "To run correctly, OnyX must be run from an admin account."
How do/must I set up an admin account? I am the only user on my machine.

If your user is the only user, then it should be an admin account. If it's a standard user (check what it says you are in the Accounts preference pane), and you have no admin user account set up, then that is a problem.

They also say -- "Make sure you have the latest update of Mac OS X. Get the latest update by choosing Apple menu > System Preferences..., then clicking Software Update, and then Update Now or Check Now. After you install an update, it's a good idea to click Update Now or Check Now again to make sure you've gotten all the latest versions. A restart may be required. To get the latest upgrade to Mac OS X, visit www.apple.com/macosx"

Must I upgrade my OS? The Onyx download page says the s/w works for all OSs from 10.4 and up (I have 10.4.5). I don't want to deal with the scramble an update has always caused in the past, and I don't have the funds to pay for a new OS.

You don't HAVE to, but you are missing out on security updates and bug fixes if you don't. You don't have to buy a new version of OS X to get the final updates to 10.4. The last version of Tiger is 10.4.11, so you are well behind on the updates. You really should do so, and heck… it may fix your problems for all we know.

As before… if you have data you can't risk losing… make a backup first!

04-12-2012, 02:37 PM

Many thanks!