Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe executable file belongs to a harmful application that can correctly be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost unusable as a result of high CPU utilization.
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What is Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe process?

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

As I have actually pointed out in the previous paragraph, Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, but the consequences are generally the identical. Considering that coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your personal computer to conduct this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you may want to use your device for other activities – it will consistently consume over 80% of your processor power.

Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe Windows Process

Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It often can result in unhappy consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining is a term that means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a strong desktop is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks 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

  • Your device overheats (system unit/laptop body is very hot)
  • You are not able to open your apps or they are opening for ages
  • Unknown process is running in the background and consumes your PC resources
  • Windows Defender does not respond
  • How dangerous is the Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe miner?

    Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

    Initially, Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.

    Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Autoconv.exe, Autofmt.exe, Autochk.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malicious operations effectively, it wrecks the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be gone back to the original in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, performing at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your device as well as raise electricity bills. PC components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Little and well-protected CPU fan is hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while working, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe virus can easily lead to GPU failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have very fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely a bad case when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Agentactivationruntimestarter.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 one of the most prevalent malevolent programs through “serious” viruses. Adware sometimes works as a carrier for Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that around 30% of all malware spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe is just one of them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.

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

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

    Getting rid of such a virus requires making use of specific software. Effective security tool should have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage even on weak PCs. Furthermore, it is recommended to have proactive security in your protection tool – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for various reasons. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits each of the discussed characteristics.5

    Prior to the virus removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe miner takes a lot of CPU capacity, it is needed to stop 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 programs, just like the majority of non-crucial system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Agentactivationruntimestarter.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 Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe

    Description: The Agentactivationruntimestarter.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Agentactivationruntimestarter.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

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    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.

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    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.

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