Activity Monitor, Process called "AntiVirus" hogging my memory.

DrDomVonDoom said:

So my iMac started bogging today, I have a memory geek let on my desktop showing my memories being maxed out. I Checked activity monitor and it shows a process called "AntiVirus" is using about half of my CPU, is this a virus? Or is this some process OSX has? I can restart my computer, and it will automatically use all my available ram, and continue chugging on my CPU. It say sits parent process is launchd_1 it's using about 130 mb of ram. Should I be concerned?

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It sounds like you have some antivirus app installed, which you don't need. You don't need any 3rd party antivirus app to keep your Mac malware-free. Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released 10 years ago. You cannot infect your Mac simply by visiting a website, unzipping a file, opening an email attachment or joining a network. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which cannot infect your Mac unless you actively install them, and they can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install. Also, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion have anti-malware protection built in, further reducing the need for 3rd party antivirus apps.
Select the process in Activity Monitor and quit or force quit it. Then remove the app. The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:

DrDomVonDoom said:

The only thing that would fall under that category is MacKeeper which I don't use for that purpose but data control, clean uninstalls, junk files etc. I can sweep through OSX but I am sure I havn't installed any AntiVirus. It seems a pretty ambiguous process name, which I thought might have been a virus in the first place.

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You don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps like MacKeeper to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Some remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space, with the risk of deleting something important in the process.

These apps will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space. Some of these apps delete caches, which can hurt performance, rather than help it, since more system resources are used and performance suffers while each cache is being rebuilt.

Many of these tasks should only be done selectively to troubleshoot specific problems, not en masse as routine maintenance.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software. Among other things, it has its own maintenance scripts that run silently in the background on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, without user intervention.

Five Mac maintenance myths

DrDomVonDoom said:

Okay well that as it may be, MacKeeper runs under its own process, "MacKeeper" not "antivirus" and if I kill the process it simply restarts itself. So I am confused as to what I should look for, I have had MacKeeper for at least a year and it has never given me this problem before. And there is nothing else that qualifies as a antivirus program on this computer.

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It looks like the AntiVirus process is, indeed, a part of MacKeeper. Check to see if you have the following:
From their own website:

Once MacKeeper is installed, Antivirus will launch and secure all actions you perform on your Mac.

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I highly recommend you fully uninstall MacKeeper.

MacKeeper is a malware in itself. I wouldn't let it near my Mac just judging by the number of times it is advertised in flash banners all around the web

Not to mention this type of apps is completely useless on a Mac. Not surprised its doing what it does to your system.

/rant

EDIT: proof link

MacKeeper is Malware. Read this and uninstall. Be Careful, when you try to put it in the trash after you complete the the uninstall process, it asks for password
info and it is difficult to get past that request without a hard shutdown. Follow directions and you will be o.k.
http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/09/21/how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-malware/

Orion27 said:

MacKeeper is Malware. Read this and uninstall. Be Careful, when you try to put it in the trash after you complete the the uninstall process, it asks for password
info and it is difficult to get past that request without a hard shutdown. Follow directions and you will be o.k.
http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/09/21/how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-malware/

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Or you can follow the directions linked in the 2nd post, using ‘zeobit’, ‘mackeeper’ and ’911 bundle’ as your search terms. That will fully remove the app.

GGJstudios said:

Or you can follow the directions linked in my 2nd post, using ‘zeobit’, ‘mackeeper’ and ’911 bundle’ as your search terms. That will fully remove the app.

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Yes of course, I missed your suggestion. Thanks

Launch Daemon not there

I am running MacKeeper on OSX 10.9.4 and that Launch Daemon is not in the Sys/Library. Any place else to look to shut AntiVirus off permanently?

ChazSedona said:

I am running MacKeeper on OSX 10.9.4 and that Launch Daemon is not in the Sys/Library. Any place else to look to shut AntiVirus off permanently?

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I highly recommend you completely uninstall MacKeeper, as it is at best unnecessary and at worst, potentially problematic. It has a terrible reputation in the Mac user community.

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:
You don't need maintenance apps on your Mac, and you don't need antivirus apps, as long as you practice safe computing.