Apiwindriver.exe process is related to a malicious application that can properly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unusable due to high CPU utilization.
What is Apiwindriver.exe process?
Apiwindriver.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Apiwindriver.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Apiwindriver.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes can result in unhappy consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Apiwindriver.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, Apiwindriver.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly sluggish efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that works online.
Apiwindriver.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Apiwindriver.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Healthiness.exe, Logrotate.exe, Hdaudio.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Apiwindriver.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single negative activity coin miners perform to your PC. Apiwindriver.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious functions effectively, it ruins the security 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 entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, running at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine and raise electricity bills. PC components 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.
Tiny and covered processor cooling system is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Apiwindriver.exe malware can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Apiwindriver.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
One more way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Therefore, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for every setup. Before criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Apiwindriver.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 applications, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system 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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