I had Kaspersky Anti-Virus on my MacBook Pro for a while and removed it. But I still see in my activity. It uses a lot CPU and keeps my fans running. How can I remove it entirely? thanks!

1. Go first to your Applications folder and throw Kasperksy in the trash if it isn't already.

2. From your hard disk icon, go to your Library folder and look in Application Support folder. Trash the folder called ‘Kaspersky’ (/Library/Application Support/Kaspersky)

3. Still in Library, look for and trash any of these you find:

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.kaspersky...

Also in logs

/Library/Logs/Kaspersky.log

4. Now look for and trash all the following in the hidden Library folder in your Home folder. Use the ‘Go’ menu in Finder’s menubar and hold down the ‘Option’ key. Choose ‘Library’ from the menu (yes, this is a different Library folder from the one sitting in the root directory on your hard disk):

Home/Library/Caches/com.kaspersky...

Home/Library/LaunchAgents/com.kaspersky...

Home/Library/Logs/Kaspersky.log

Home/Library/Preferences/com.kaspersky.plist

5. Go to Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access.app and double click on it. Notice the padlock in the window is up there on the left, rather than down the bottom. Click on it and enter your admin password. Now go through all the items in the ‘Keychains’ list (such as Login, System, Root) with ‘All items’ selected in the ‘Category’ list. Anything you find related to ‘Kaspersky, click on it, then choose Edit > Delete from the menu.

6. Do a Spotlight search for Kaspersky in case there’s any other stragglers lurking about. Any and every file with 'kaspersky' in the filename needs to be trashed.

7. Click on the Finder> Secure Empty Trash...

8. Open the Activity Monitor utility (Applications>Utilities>Activity Monitor.app), make sure ‘All Processes’ is showing in the drop down menu just over on the right of the dialogue box, then scroll down the list and see if any processes called ‘Kaspersky’ are still running. If you find anything of this sort, click on it and hit ‘Quit Process’ (top left).

9. After all this is done, restart. After restarting, check the Activity Monitor one last time to be sure.

10. Finally, if you feel the need to have some kind of software watching over your downloads and attachments, use: ClamXav. (it's free, too!)

Did you use the supplied uninstaller?

This solved my problem. Much appreciated.

The tip to use the Activity Monitor was a nice touch. I found the one file that was hanging attempts to shut down my laptop. This is not a tool I've used before. One of the specialists at my Apple store also suggested this as a tool to find the problem.

Very nice!

Thanks.

Hi there, i used appzapper to remove the Kasperky, i thought i did entirely removed it, but heck no, i did all the steps that you showed, and i coulnd find anything related to "kasperky", but it's still there, on the menu bar, and i can't open it. When i checked on "Activity Monitor", i saw it so i hit "Quit Process", and i restarted but it's still on the menu bar, can you help me to remove it?

There's kaspersky process still lurking around in your system library somewhere.

Back up your system before doing anything else. Then try searching for 'kaspersky' with EasyFind.

Set it up like this:

Look for and remove anything in /Library, /System/Library or ~/Library that matches the name you see in Activity Monitor.

Check that you've removed Kaspersky from Login Items in  > System Preferences > Users & Groups | Login items.

Restart your mac after any deletions and see if the problem is solved.

You'll have to officially uninstall kaspersky. There's a GUI-based version that will help uninstall that application and it's also free which is extremely definitely cost efficient. The website is www.appremover.com. Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for your post softwater. The Kaspersky "left overs" were so annoying.

I didn't see this topic the first time around, but, since it was "resurrected," would like to comment after the fact. Note that it's not a great idea to uninstall software by searching for components having the name of the software or by using apps like AppZapper or AppRemover. These methods are extremely unreliable for any software that uses an installer.

The proper way to remove Kaspersky is to use the official Kaspersky uninstaller, which can be found on the disk image file you originally downloaded when you installed Kaspersky. Since most people probably don't keep such things lying around on their hard drives, though, you can get the uninstaller again by simply re-downloading your version of Kaspersky.

The same is true for all other anti-virus software (except for any downloaded from the App Store), though the location of the uninstaller varies.

Thomas A Reed wrote:

These methods are extremely unreliable for any software that uses an installer.

I agree that an uninstaller should be used where possible. However, I take issue with the statement that doing it manually is "extremely unreliable".

On the contrary, this method has proven extremely reliable, if by that we mean "effective". Literally thousands of people have used this exact method to uninstall Mackeeper and I've not once had any feedback saying either that it didn't work or that it caused unexpected issues (and I've had a LOT of feedback on that post 😉).

The only thing missing from the above instructions is that you should run Repair Permissions afterwards.

On the contrary, this method has proven extremely reliable, if by that we mean "effective". Literally thousands of people have used this exact method to uninstall Mackeeper

You're countering my general advice with one specific case where it works. That does not remotely mean that it works in all cases. On the contrary, I know for a fact that it does not.

The only thing missing from the above instructions is that you should run Repair Permissions afterwards.

Why?

Repairing permissions absolutely is not a necessary part of the removal process of any application. If repairing permissions is necessary, it is because something has changed permissions incorrectly. Deleting files should not cause that to happen, and if it does, there is something seriously wrong with your system.

Thomas A Reed wrote:

You're countering my general advice with one specific case where it works.

Nope. I'm countering your unempirical rhetoric with empirical evidence. You say authoritatively that you know for "a fact" something (or other) to the contrary. I guess we'll all just have to take your word for it, then. Since all you've provided to support your opinion is...your opinion.

Thomas A Reed wrote:

The only thing missing from the above instructions is that you should run Repair Permissions afterwards.

Why?

Because the kind of apps that this procedure is good for may well have changed permissions on other files when they were installed. MacKeeper, Little Snitch, Anti-virus and any other s/w that requires an Admin password and then a restart get installed with a more or less carte blanche to do what they will.

It seems wise to ensure that everything is as it should be after removing them. Repairing permissions is harmless and potentially helpful, though I am well aware that its become fashionable for some folks on these boards to look down condescendingly on people who suggest it. Repairing permissions also flushes the RAM, releasing any leaked memory or zombie processes that might remain if you ran the app just before deleting it.

For those seeking info on permissions, Apple's support article can be found here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1452

I don't frequent these boards much these days and am like to ignore another caustic reply, having lost patience with arguing the toss about things that are often a matter of self-esteem to the combatants rather than substantial matters of help to people with problems. I'll just point out that quite a few people on this thread have suggesed they found this manual procedure helpful. Many have said the same on my blog. I've yet to see a single piece of ACTUAL evidence (yeah, spare me the theoretical dissertations) that this kind of manual procedure is "extremely unreliable".

Okay, since you seem inclined to push the issue, allow me to provide an example that shows definitively that this "search-and-destroy" technique does not work in all cases. Suppose you want to uninstall Norton, for example. You are likely to never find and remove the Norton kernel extension, which is named "SymAPComm.kext" and which is inside a series of folders that nowhere include the word "Norton." Thus, searching for and removing anything with the word "Norton" in it will not eliminate everything. Running the uninstaller will.

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. When there is a provided uninstaller, written specifically by the developer to remove all components of their software from the system, why would anyone recommend a "search-and-destroy" uninstall method that may or may not actually remove everything? That makes no sense.

As for the permissions repair, there is no reason to believe that software like this will mess with files whose permissions Disk Utility can repair. If it does, that would be a problem whether the software was being uninstalled or not. Do you have any actual examples of cases where this is required?

Thomas A Reed wrote:

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. When there is a provided uninstaller, written specifically by the developer to remove all components of their software from the system, why would anyone recommend a "search-and-destroy" uninstall method that may or may not actually remove everything? That makes no sense.

Nobody is making such a recommendation, and its disingenuous of you to suggest that's my position. Browse up, or down. I said:

I agree that an uninstaller should be used where possible. However, I take issue with the statement that doing it manually is "extremely unreliable".

I take this discussion to be at an end.

What you claim you said was not said until after I posted. Before I posted, only jsd2 had mentioned the official uninstaller.

I've made my recommendation, and I stand by it. If you feel I have somehow slighted you with my recommendation... well, that's your issue to deal with, not mine.

You might want to try AppRemover (appremover.com), it's a free tool for Mac that completely uninstalls antivirus software from a computer (I'd check out their Mac 10.7 support chart to make sure your version of Kaspersky is supported: http://www.appremover.com/supported-applications#security-applications?mac-os-10 -7)