# Why does MacKeeper exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2017, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mackeeper-exist/805199 "2017-12-24T08:46:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mackeeper-exist/805199/1 "2017-12-24T08:46:23Z")
I swear, this must be the company Dilbert works for! I bought their service once several years ago and it did not go well. I tried to keep it out of my subsequent computers, but I did a Firefox upgrade a few weeks ago and apparently they’re bundled in with it, so I’ve been having glitches and crashes ever since, despite thorough uninstall/delete efforts! How do they stay in business with this level of ineptitude and notoriety? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mackeeper-exist/805199/2 "2017-12-24T11:44:01Z")
It exists to make money from people like you. Harsh but true, sorry. Edit: It _survives_ by using shoddy marketing tactics and making itself difficult to uninstall once installed. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mackeeper-exist/805199/3 "2017-12-24T12:05:54Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > How do they stay in business with this level of ineptitude and notoriety? Because there are still people out there who buy things before doing their due diligence. Simply googling “MacKeeper scam” or “MacKeeper good or bad” will turn up a wealth of articles and posts all indicating that MacKeeper’s a pest through and through. ---
**Author:** ![albino\_manatee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/albino_manatee/32/2_2.png) [@albino\_manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/albino_manatee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mackeeper-exist/805199/4 "2017-12-24T13:15:24Z")
i’ve installed firefox on both pc and mac os in the past … never came across this **“mackeeper”** bundled with firefox … or any other browser, for that matter. however … if you elect to obtain the software from warehouses _(cnet, etc)_ … you are just begging for trouble. you should always obtain the software from the developer … in this case, it would have been mozilla _([www.mozilla.org](http://www.mozilla.org))_. and, taking pro-active assertion, during installation process … you should always choose “advanced” … so, if the software _does_ bundle crapware … you can/should elect not to install the crapware. have a good day … and happy holidays to all. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mackeeper-exist/805199/5 "2017-12-24T14:33:23Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > It exists to make money from people like you. Harsh but true, sorry. > > Edit: It _survives_ by using shoddy marketing tactics and making itself difficult to uninstall once installed. Okay, but the only time I ever paid them for anything was four years ago, and within a week I paid someone else to take it out. It’s a curious business plan. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mackeeper-exist/805199/6 "2017-12-24T17:00:59Z")
Half of the things windows users have problems with that Mac users seem to think they are immune to is crapware like this. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mackeeper-exist/805199/7 "2017-12-25T00:46:19Z")
When I was in my mercifully-brief time on the phones doing official Mac tech support, we treated MacKeeper as malware. I helped numerous customers to remove it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mackeeper-exist/805199/8 "2017-12-26T04:43:15Z")
MacKeeper makes its money by getting on people’s computers and serving them ads, either through exploits or, more often, through bundling. Or just social engineering. Many people are not savvy enough to remove it, and even those that are take a while to do so. I don’t know how many times I’ve run into it on someone’s computer that they let me use, and they’d just been putting up with it. Or how they won’t ask me about it until their computer literally can’t get online anymore. This is why I am so insistent about Adblock and A/V software now. That said, I do think it is likely this sort of thing is less lucrative than it once was, with the decreasing cost of ads. The new hotness is to steal computing time for mining a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. Or being there silently in the background for later use as a botnet.