Alg.exe executable file is related to a malicious application that can accurately be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost unfunctional because of high CPU utilization.
What is Alg.exe process?
Alg.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Alg.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, 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 usually used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Alg.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often may lead to bad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Alg.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Alg.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all processor 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 experience extremely slow performance. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Alg.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Alg.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Bcdedit.exe, Iccproxy.exe, Backgroundtransferhost.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Alg.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary bad thing coin miners do to your computer. Alg.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malevolent functions correctly, it wrecks the protection components 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 brought in by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine and increase electricity costs. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Little and covered processor fan is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Alg.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. GPUs are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Alg.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 unreliable site as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not require 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 acquire a coin for each installation. Before blaming these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Alg.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 software, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU 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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