Completely removing MacKeeper – every last bit of it

5 November 2015, 05:00

I’ve written about MacKeeper before, and how to keep it from getting onto the system of somebody who isn’t a Mac expert. But what do you do if you arrive at their Mac too late — and find it’s already on there?

John Kitzmiller took the time to see exactly what MacKeeper deposits on a Mac, and wrote a simple script that will completely remove it and the various tendrils it embeds within the system.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Download the script and the open the Terminal app, which you’ll find in the Utilities folder of the Applications list within Finder.*
2. I assume here that the script file downloaded to your Downloads folder. If not, copy it there now for the sake of the following command, which you should paste into the Terminal window and which will make the script executable and then run it — you’ll need to type your login password when prompted:

   chmod +x ~/Downloads/mackeeper_remove.sh;sudo !$

And that’s all that’s required. The script will show output on what it’s up to, and once it’s finished (it should take seconds) just close the Terminal window.

* Downloading scripts from strangers is bad, and I’m just another stranger as far as you’re concerned. If you want a belts-and-braces approach, you can visit John’s page for the script, copy it to the clipboard (Cmd+A, Cmd+C), then type pbpaste > ~/Downloads/mackeeper_remove.sh into the Terminal window to create the script yourself rather than download it from me. Then just follow Step 2 above.

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