how to uninstall MacKeeper – updated

Sep 21

Posted by philastokes

MacKeeper – also known as 911 Bundle‘ in the App store — yes, you’ve seen the ads all over the internet, pop ups on your favourite webpages, it seems to be everywhere.

Many people that download and use MacKeeper experience severe problems as a result. If you have installed MacKeeper and wish to remove it, read on.

Uninstalling MacKeeper 2012

If you have used MacKeeper to encrypt any data, unencrypt it now. If you remove MacKeeper without unencrypting your data first, you will not be able to access it later. This only applies to data encrypted with MacKeeper, and not data encrypted using Mac OS built-in encryption services or using any other program.

Once that is done, you can follow MacKeeper’s uninstall instructions here:

help.mackeeper.zeobit.com/Manual/GettingStarted/UninstallingMacKeeper.html

These instructions promise that they will remove all MacKeeper’s associated files (see the note ‘Important’ at the bottom of their page). However, you may wish to do Step 4 in the procedure below for earlier versions of MacKeeper to check MacKeeper does not have access to your Keychain.

Uninstalling earlier versions of MacKeeper

If you have a version of MacKeeper earlier than MacKeeper 2012 you should follow the procedure below. You may not find ALL of the following, but any you do find should be removed.

Preparation:
i. Again, a warning: if you have used MacKeeper’s encryption feature, be sure to unencrypt before you uninstall MacKeeper.

Time Machine
ii. If you use Time Machine, leave it connected and do the Time Machine Step (TM step) where indicated. Instructions for the TM step are given in the box in step 1 below.

Clones
iii. If you use a clone without archiving, disconnect the clone and run the procedure below on your internal disk. When it is complete and you have verified everything is OK, connect your clone and wipe the partition using Disk Utility. Then make a new clone.

iv. If you use a clone with archiving, reboot into your clone now and run the procedure below on the clone first. Then shutdown you computer, disconnect the clone from the system and reboot into your internal drive. Run the entire procedure again on your internal drive.

v. If you have anything in the Trash, empty it now before you start.



The Uninstall Procedure:
Once you have prepared everything as above, you’re ready to start the uninstall procedure.

1. If MacKeeper is running, quit it. From the sidebar in any Finder window, choose your hard disk icon and go to your Library folder. Look in the Application Support folder for the folder inside it called ‘MacKeeper’:

/Library/Application Support/MacKeeper

Click on the folder once.

TM Step
If you are using Time Machine do the TM Step now.

Enter Time Machine via the TM icon on your menubar at the top of your screen.
Click the little gear/cog in the Finder window and choose ‘delete all backups of xxx file’.
Enter your Admin password to confirm the delete. Exit Time Machine and then…

If you don’t use TM or after you have completed the TM step, hold down the ‘command’ key and press the ‘delete’ key once to send the file to the trash.

2. Still in Library, look for and trash any of these you find in the same way, remembering if you have Time Machine to do the TM step first in each case:

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.AntiVirus

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.plugin.AntiTheft.daemon

3. If you are using Lion, use the ‘Go’ menu in Finder’s menubar and hold down the ‘option’ key. Choose ‘Library’ from the menu (yes, this is a different Library folder from the one you were just in). If you are using Snow Leopard or Leopard, just click on the little ‘Home‘ icon in the Finder sidebar and navigate to the Library. Then trash any and all of these that you find, remembering to do the TM step (if applicable) first in each case:

Home/Library/Caches/com.zeobit.MacKeeper

Home/Library/Caches/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.Helper

Home/Library/LaunchAgents/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.Helper

Home/Library/LaunchAgents/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.plugin.Backup.agent

Home/Library/Preferences/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.plist

Home/Library/Preferences/com.zeobit.MacKeeper.Helper.plist

Be careful not to delete the wrong files: only those that have got the words ‘zeobit’, ‘MacKeeper’, ’911′ or ’911bundle’ should be trashed.

4. Go to Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access.app and double click on it. Notice the padlock in the window is up there on the left, rather than down the bottom. Click on it and enter your admin password. Now go through all the items in the ‘Keychains‘ list (such as Login, System, Root) with ‘All items’ selected in the ‘Category’ list. Anything you find related to ‘MacKeeper’ or ‘zeobit’, click on it, then choose Edit > Delete from the menu.
(Thanks to Al for also mentioning this point in the Comments below! ).

5. Open the Activity Monitor utility (Applications>Utilities>Activity Monitor.app), make sure ‘All Processes’ is showing in the drop down menu just over on the right of the dialogue box, then scroll down the list and see if any processes called ‘MacKeeper’, ‘zeobit’ or ’911 bundle’ are still running. Older versions of MacKeeper may have a ‘WINE’ process running, so also look for ‘wine’. Anything you find, click on it and hit ‘Quit Process’ (top left).

6. Go to your Applications folder from a Finder window and select MacKeeper (if you have Time Machine, do the TM step now). Then, hold down ‘command’ and press ‘delete’ once. If you assigned MacKeeper to be pinned in the Dock, be sure to also drag the icon off the Dock and release it anywhere over the desktop. It will, satisfyingly, disappear in the ‘poof’ of a cloud.

7. When you’re done filling up your trash can with all this junk, click on the Finder> Empty Trash.

8. Go to

 > System Preferences > Users & Groups (or ‘Accounts’ for Snow L) | Login Items

If you see anything to do with MacKeeper in the list of items there, highlight it, then click the little minus ‘-’ button near the bottom of the list.

9. Restart your Mac. Everything should be back to normal, but check the Activity Monitor one last time to be sure.

10. After restart, be sure to fix your system permissions. If you encounter any problems that you did not have before, fix the ACLs too.

**If you are running a clone, remember to follow the instructions given above under “Preparation: Clones”.**

Supplementary: If you have a problem with MacKeeper pop-ups while using your browser, try clearing out the caches, like this:

In Safari menubar, choose ‘Safari > Reset Safari’. Make sure all the options are checked.
This will not only clear out your caches, but everything else stored by the browser. Don’t worry, it won’t affect your bookmarks, but it will reset your ‘top sites’ and history.

In Firefox menubar, choose ‘Tools > Clear Recent History…’ and choose ‘Everything’. Again, it’ll clear everything out but won’t delete your bookmarks.

Obviously, if you use any other browsers like Opera or something you’ll have to find the same options for those too.

Related Posts
block MacKeeper and other browser ads


NOTES
1. If you have any problems carrying out the steps, try starting your Mac up in Safe mode, and then running the procedure.
2. You can safely ignore any MacKeeper files that are in the Logs, BOM or Receipts folders.
3. If you have only downloaded the MacKeeper package but not ran the installer, you only need to send the .pkg file in your Downloads folder to the Trash. That’s it!

Acknowledgements
This post has been refined and improved over time thanks to suggestions and replies made in the Comments and on Apple Support Communities. Thanks especially to Al, Lyndon and Jack.

• Leave a Comment

• Comments (527)

1. steven ferris | November 29, 2012 at 21:42

   THANK YOU THANK YOU. YOUR INSTRUCTIONS DID THE TRICK!!!!

   Reply
2. pete | November 28, 2012 at 12:19

   Here’s my concern: I clicked on the download bar after I listened to the spokesperson guy in the red shirt. It said it fixed only some of my problems because the demo reached its limit and there are still a bunch of problems (system is “critical”) to fix. I know now it’s all BS. But now I have the robot icon below. Can’t get rid of it. And when it’s clicked the MacKeeper 2012 window comes up. I just want to make sure that all I got was the demo and nothing more. Haven’t given any CC info or anything. Just created a password for the demo “cleanup” and that’s it. Am I good? And how do I now get rid of the icon and, in turn, the MacKeeper window. Sorry for the simpleton questions. Much appreciated.

   Reply
3. Helen | November 23, 2012 at 03:45

   Phil, thank you!!! My computer is finally running more like normal after I followed all your tips. It was installing Lion that I think did it for me!
   Thank

   Reply
4. woody17 | November 12, 2012 at 11:19

   Im dragging mackeeper into the trash but its not going anywhere, what can i do to get rid off it?

   Reply
   • philastokes | November 12, 2012 at 11:23

     Please read Notes, no. 1. at the bottom of the main post.

     Reply
5. Todd | November 9, 2012 at 02:33

   I use T