Mac HelpMate is widely considered to be one of the finest Troubleshooting, Maintenance and Diagnostic tools for Mac OS X. It is distributed as freeware. Now there is a related *Service* that's an annual subscription, for which Mac HelpMate serves as the front-end. No one *has* to pay that annual $600 fee, but people *choose* to if the service is apropos to their consulting or support business. Many Mac support pros find it well worthwhile.

If you're not in a position to pay the fee for or understand the value of a Mac HelpMate subscription, just use the software *as is* and pay nothing.

I hope this clears the air a bit.