Amay.exe executable file comes from a malevolent application that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost unusable as a result of high CPU use.
What is Amay.exe process?
Amay.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified earlier, Amay.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file may be diverse, however, the consequences are usually the same. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your desktop to run this operation. This virus doesn’t pay attention to the fact that you probably want to use your desktop for other tasks – it will constantly consume over 80% of your processor power.
Amay.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Amay.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may lead to sad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining term means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a strong computer is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who gain money 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
How dangerous is the Amay.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Amay.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, because all processor power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely slow performance. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that works online.
Amay.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Amay.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Agsservice.exe, Adobecollabsync.exe, Igcctray.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Amay.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary negative thing coin miners perform to your PC. Amay.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To conduct 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 ton of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be gone 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 long times can trigger damage to your device and increase electricity expenses. Hardware components are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Little and covered processor fan is hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while working, for example, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Amay.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Amay.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 malevolent programs among “major” malware. Adware sometimes serves as a carrier for Amay.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that approximately 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Amay.exe is just with them.
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Amay.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Eliminating such a virus involves using specific software. Appropriate security tool must have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak systems. On top of that, it is better to have proactive security in your security tool – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for various factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal choice that fits all of the discussed qualities.4
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Amay.exe miner takes a lot of processor power, it is required 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.
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 applications, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Amay.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.
After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.
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.
Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.
Remove Amay.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Amay.exe
Description: The Amay.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Amay.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
User Review
( votes)References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
