AcPowerNotification.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
AcPowerNotification.exe process comes from a malevolent program that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much unfunctional due to high CPU usage.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review
It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!
When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.
Gridinsoft Anti-Malware 6-day trial available.
EULA | Privacy Policy | 10% Off Coupon
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to be the first to know about news and our exclusive materials on information security.

What is Acpowernotification.exe process?

Acpowernotification.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

As I have actually mentioned in the previous paragraph, Acpowernotification.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file can be different, however, the effects are generally the identical. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your PC to run this process. This malware does not care about the fact that you probably want to use your machine for other activities – it will always use over 80% of your processor power.

Acpowernotification.exe Windows Process

Acpowernotification.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU use

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Acpowernotification.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can lead to unhappy results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a high-end computer is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Extremely bad performance
  • CPU/GPU cooler fan creates a lot of noise
  • High temperature of the device (for laptops)
  • 80-90% consumption of CPU/GPU resources by an unknown process
  • Microsoft Defender is not working
  • How dangerous is the Acpowernotification.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, Acpowernotification.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who works online.

    Acpowernotification.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameAcpowernotification.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorAackingstondramhal_x64.exe, Ezupdt.exe, Dipawaymode.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Acpowernotification.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary negative activity coin miners perform to your system. Acpowernotification.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To conduct all malicious operations successfully, it wrecks the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, running at peak level for long times may cause damage to your device and increase power expenses. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Small and well-protected CPU fan is hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Acpowernotification.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad situation when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Acpowernotification.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources

    Coin miners are the most prevalent malicious programs among “major” viruses. Adware frequently works as a carrier for Acpowernotification.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that approximately 30% of all viruses spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Acpowernotification.exe is right with them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    Another way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. For this reason, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for every installation. Before blaming these people for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program and new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Acpowernotification.exe miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software

    Removing such a virus requires making use of specific program. Effective anti-malware program must have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak computers. Additionally, it is better to have on-run protection in your security solution – to prevent the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for various factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb option that fits each of the mentioned characteristics.5

    Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Acpowernotification.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU power, it is required to halt it before launching the security program. Otherwise, your scan will last for years, even though the GridinSoft program is pretty lightweight.

    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.

    Boot into Windows Safe Mode

    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.

    windows safe mode boot option with command prompt

    When your PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Acpowernotification.exe coin miner virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. You can use this anti-malware program for free during its 6-day trial period. In that term, all functions are available, and it takes no payments to remove malware from your system.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    When the scan is finished, press the Clean Now button to remove all detected elements from your system. This procedure takes less than a minute.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Acpowernotification.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Acpowernotification.exe

    Description: The Acpowernotification.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Acpowernotification.exe will create your CPU to go for very warm temperatures for prolonged periods of time, which could reduce the life of the CPU.

    Operating System: Windows

    Application Category: Trojan

    Sending
    User Review
    3.4 (5 votes)
    Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)

    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

    Spanish Turkish

    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

    Leave a Reply

    Sending