How MacKeeper Rescued my Mac

My five-year-old MacBook Pro was not in its best condition and I was wondering if anything could ever bring it back to life. I had never installed any maintenance apps on it, relying on the built-in Mac OS tools only, but then I realized that the time had come to do so.

My five-year-old MacBook Pro was not in its best condition and I was wondering if anything could ever bring it back to life. I had never installed any maintenance apps on it, relying on the built-in Mac OS tools only, but then I realized that the time had come to do so.

Step 1: Get Rid of Junk

To be quite honest, I rarely bothered with any cleanup or organizing of my data. From time to time I just removed the files, cleaned the cache and trashed the apps I didn’t need, and that was all. So I decided to look how much junk I had pilled up on my Mac. With this in mind I launched Fast Cleanup (under Cleaning) and clicked Start Scan.

5.1 GB of junk. Wow, that was tough. Not that much compared with 500 GB, but anyway this crap seemed to slow down my Mac. I should have cleaned the cache more often!

Step 2: Remove Useless Files

The next utility that drew my attention under Cleaning was Duplicates Finder. I never imagined that I had so many file copies scattered all over the hard drive…However most of them were from my iTunes library. I thought I’d better not touch those, but anyway it was a nice try.

Then I decided to check which files on my Mac took most space and opened the Disk Usage tool. I love this Column view with all of my files spread out before my eyes, marked with different colors.

Well, time has come to clean up the desktop and the Documents folder, I thought.

This tool was very convenient in terms that it not only showed me the largest files but actually helped me remove them. And, as Fast Cleanup, did it rapidly.

Step 3: Uninstall Useless Apps

I heard that dragging to Trash did not completely remove the apps, but I was too lazy to get an uninstaller. Shame on me! However, with MacKeeper’s Wise Uninstaller tool I got a wonderful opportunity to try and uninstall the unneeded apps in a proper manner.

This tool found a lot of “remnants” left from my trashed apps and removed them with one click. Besides, I uninstalled several apps I no longer needed.

Step 4: Update the Apps

To see the state of my apps, I opened the Update Tracker tool. Just 12 out of my 40 apps were outdated; not that bad compared with previous results. So I just clicked “Update All” and waited until the tool downloaded the desired updates.

I also liked the Favorite and Blacklist features. I put the apps I always used to the Favorite list, while those I downloaded temporarily went to the Blacklist. Why update the apps you’ll uninstall soon, right?

Other Features

Before making the conclusion I’d like to say a couple of words about other MacKeeper’s features which I didnt use while rescuing my Mac but now they are a part of my Mac maintenance routine. These are features under Data Control – Data Encryptor, Undelete, Shredder and Backup – and also Anti-Theft under Security.

Data Encryptor is ideal for paranoics who want to keep their private data safe. First, you should create a password to use the tool itself, then setup another password for the items you are encrypting, and, finally, choose the encryption algorithm. Tricky.

Shredder is another way to keep your data safe, this time even if it has been removed. This tool will wipe away the data from the hard drive, making it completely unrecoverable.

Backup is a nice alternative to Time Machine; besides, it’s got more functionality than the built-in Mac OS X tool. For example, it can create backups on external storage media, so its scope is not limited by your Mac’s hard drive only. Moreover, it has a built-in scheduling feature.

Undelete is designed for those who have a habit of losing their important files now and then. It will literally scavenge your trash, take out your lost files and put them back together again. However, it might take some time.

Finally, if you have a habit of losing not only your files but also your laptop (yes, I know such people!), then you should equip your Mac with MacKeeper’s Anti-Theft feature. Just activate it, remember the instructions and follow them in case your Mac is stolen using your online account. Nice service, I enabled it just to be on the safe side.