Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe process comes from a harmful application that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much unfunctional because of high CPU usage.
What is Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe process?
Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often can cause unhappy results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First of all, Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that does a job online.
Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Aggregatorhost.exe, Windows.security, Drive.watchdog |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single bad activity coin miners do to your computer. Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malevolent operations successfully, it ruins the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, running at peak level for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine and raise power costs. PC components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered processor fan is quite hard to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe coin miner virus?
Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. For this reason, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for each setup. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Aadwamextensiontaskhostw.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Booting the PC into Safe Mode with Networking
Press the Start button, then choose Power, and click on Reboot while holding the Shift key on the keyboard.
Windows will reboot into recovery mode. In that mode, choose Troubleshoot→ Startup Settings→ Safe Mode with Networking. Press the corresponding button on your keyboard to choose that option.
When your system is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, just like the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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