Ahiwq.exe executable file comes from a malicious application that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost nonfunctional due to high CPU use.
What is Ahiwq.exe process?
Ahiwq.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Ahiwq.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, 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 CPU for system work, so Ahiwq.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often may cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Ahiwq.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First off, Ahiwq.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely slow efficiency. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.
Ahiwq.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Ahiwq.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Ground.exe, Adasdasdae.exe, Energy.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Ahiwq.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your computer. Ahiwq.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malevolent operations effectively, it ruins the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your PC slow, running at peak power for a long period of time can cause damage to your machine and raise electricity costs. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered CPU cooling system is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Ahiwq.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Ahiwq.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
Another way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is much cheaper 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 Ahiwq.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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC 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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