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Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
JCLover #31886 11/26/14 06:47 PM
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Originally Posted By: JCLover
Any idea why uninstalling MacKeeper would NOT delete those files?

The MacKeeper uninstall utility is…
  1. poorly designed and/or implemented
  2. carelessly designed and/or implemented
  3. an afterthought created by someone unfamiliar with the product
  4. either untested or the result of a faulty test design
  5. the product of a sloppy development process
  6. an attitude users are not supposed to uninstall MacKeeper
  7. all of the above

MacKeeper is not the only product that has been guilty of faulty uninstall utility design and/or implementation over the years, but it is on a short list of applications notorious for this. Interestingly anti-virus products account for a major portion of that short list.

Last edited by joemikeb; 11/26/14 06:50 PM. Reason: my money is on g: all of the above

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
JCLover #31893 11/26/14 08:56 PM
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Originally Posted By: JCLover
I ... do have this file:
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.AntiVirus.plist
A search for antivirus gets no hits, but a search for system or hidden files with that name yields:
AntiVirus.app and
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.AntiVirus.plist

May I safely move those to Trash?

Yes. You will have to restart afterwards for the change to take effect.

Originally Posted By: JCLover
Are there other files to look for?

Before deleting /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.AntiVirus.plist, look inside it to see what what program it references. (QuickLook will suffice. Select the file and press the space bar.)

This file is not actually a program. It's a .plist file scanned by Launch Services at startup, and is almost certainly telling Launch Services about a program that it is supposed to launch at startup, and probably to re-launch any time it quits for any reason. When looking at the file, you will probably see one or both of the following:

The program name spelled out explicitly:
Code:
	<key>Program</key>
	<string>...the path to the program here...</string>
The program name implied by the program arguments:
Code:
	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
	<array>
		<string>...the path to the program here...</string>
		...possibly more <string>...</string> pairs here...
	</array>

If you see both Program and ProgramArguments, ignore ProgramArguments. The single <string>...</string> listed under Program, or if there is no Program then the first <string>...</string> listed under ProgramArguments tells you the name of the program Launch Services is being told to run. That program is probably the AntiVirus.app you found. (More precisely, it'll be something like .../AntiVirus.app/Contents/MacOS/AntiVirus.) If it's not nested inside AntiVirus.app, you can delete it too. (If it is nested inside AntiVirus.app, deleting AntiVirus.app will take care of deleting it.)

Originally Posted By: JCLover
Any idea why uninstalling MacKeeper would NOT delete those files?

Because MacKeeper doesn't really want itself to be uninstalled. They probably rationalize this to themselves saying: "We're such mighty virus hunters that the virus writers are scared of us and want to uninstall us as part of taking over one of our customer's computers. We're going to thwart them by making it really hard to uninstall us. That would make it harder for our customers to uninstall us, too, except that will never be a problem because our customers love us and would never want to uninstall us."

Pure and specious self-serving rationalization, of course, but there you have it.

Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
JCLover #31912 11/27/14 10:51 PM
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Yes, you should move those files to the trash. I can't answer why they get left behind when you uninstall, except to say that Zeobit doesn't seem to have the best reputation as a company.


Photo gallery, all about me, and more: www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
joemikeb #31924 11/29/14 09:52 PM
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Wow! Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Thanks for the answerS.


MacBookPro5,4; 1 Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.53 GHz; 4 GB Memory; 15" Monitor; OS X 10.6.8

JCLover
Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
ganbustein #31925 11/29/14 10:03 PM
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Hi. Thanks for the very clear, specific answers. I was able to confirm that those two files were the only ones left behind, apparently intentionally. As a matter of pure curiosity, you may want to see how my .plist was written.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Disabled</key>
<false/>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.zeobit.MacKeeper.AntiVirus</string>
<key>Program</key>
<string>/Library/Application Support/MacKeeper/AntiVirus.app/Contents/MacOS/AntiVirus</string>
<key>OnDemand</key>
<false/>
</dict>
</plist>


MacBookPro5,4; 1 Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.53 GHz; 4 GB Memory; 15" Monitor; OS X 10.6.8

JCLover
Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
tacit #31926 11/29/14 10:04 PM
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Thanks.


MacBookPro5,4; 1 Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.53 GHz; 4 GB Memory; 15" Monitor; OS X 10.6.8

JCLover
Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
joemikeb #34369 05/19/15 03:58 PM
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For those who have been unfortunate enough to be afflicted, read How to manually remove MacKeeper from your Mac.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
JCLover #34370 05/19/15 04:26 PM
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fyi that is a windows av software, running emulation in wine, scanning your mac, using a windows virus definitions file...


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
jchuzi #34504 06/01/15 08:58 AM
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Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Slow Mac - How Can I Improve Performance?
jchuzi #34583 06/04/15 03:56 PM
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I wish I had an ethical system that allowed me to do what the folks who created MacKeeper did. Make $20 million from sales of fraudulent software, get smacked by a lawsuit, be forced to pay $2 million in settlement, pocket the remaining $18 million, walk away whistling.


Photo gallery, all about me, and more: www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
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