Block MacKeeper

19 October 2015, 05:00

There’s a piece of software called MacKeeper. If you use a Mac you’ll know about it because it’s advertised everywhere. Ostensibly it’s supposed to fix and optimise.

I’m not going to pass comment on this app other than to say that I wouldn’t let it near my Mac or that of anybody I know. If you’re interested, iSkySoft, iMore and Cult of Mac have written about it. Oh, and there was that class action lawsuit against the folks behind MacKeeper too.

The trouble is that the MacKeeper adverts can make some very persuasive arguments to those who aren’t as well educated as you and I, dear reader. By that I mean the mom and pops of this world may well fall for the ad and, even worse, hand over cash.

A Medium blog posting recently explained how to use a script to block MacKeeper ads on any Mac (the MacKeeper folks have found a way to circumvent standard ad-blockers, apparently) but it’s not hard to put in place protections manually.

Just follow these steps, which essentially make it impossible to view MacKeeper websites or online properties using a Mac.

  1. Open a Terminal window. It’s in the Utilities folder of the Applications list in Finder.

  2. Copy and paste the following long command-line. When you hit Enter you’ll be prompted to enter your login password, but that’s fine:

    sudo nano /etc/hosts

  3. Use the cursor keys to move the cursor to the bottom of the file, and then paste in the following four lines:

    127.0.0.1 mackeeperapp.mackeeper.com
127.0.0.1 mackeeperapp2.mackeeper.com
127.0.0.1 mackeeperapp3.mackeeper.com
127.0.0.1 mackeeper.com

  4. Tap Ctrl+X, then Y, and hit Enter. You can now close the Terminal window.

  5. Reboot the Mac.

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