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Mac utility suite has been linked to fraudulent ads in the past.

The MacKeeper utility suite, which claims to help Mac users stop security threats, find duplicate files, and help you uninstall unwanted apps, doesn’t have the best reputation.

One reason is that many users in the past encountered it after being hit by over-aggressive “scare ads” that appeared designed to frighten consumers into installing the product.

Invariably, MacKeeper’s developers have pointed the finger of blame for the underhand tactics at affiliates. Claims have also been made that MacKeeper was turning a blind eye to what was happening in the product’s name.

Last year, ZeoBIT – the creators of MacKeeper who sold the software to Kromtech in April 2013 – responded to a class action law-suit that claimed MacKeeper had been deceptively advertised and false claims about what it could fix by putting $2 million into a settlement fund.

The problem is this. You can settle the matter in the courts, but it doesn’t necessarily rebuild a broken brand. There are still plenty of folks who have a bad taste in their mouth when they hear the name “MacKeeper” – and not just because the company carelessly left millions of Mac users’ details exposed on the net.

I suspect 14-year-old Luqman Wadood might be one of those who isn’t a fan of MacKeeper.

As Apple Insider reports, MacKeeper has made legal threats against the teenage video maker unless he removes his critical videos from YouTube:

Infamous software developer MacKeeper has demanded that four videos critical of its maligned tune-up utility suite be removed from the internet, threatening the teenager behind the videos with $60,000 in court costs and legal fees. Luqman Wadood, the creator of the video series, made a set of five videos, which he calls the “MacKeeper Sucks” and “MacKeeper is a scam” series. Since MacKeeper owner Kromtech’s legal threat, four videos in the set have been made private, with one video, called “Confronting MacKeeper” remaining viewable.

Here is a copy of the email that was sent to Luqman Wadood from Kromtech’s legal department:

And Wadood’s response, which is – predictably – posted on his YouTube channel:

I wonder if MacKeeper has ever heard of the Streisand effect?

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