Asuslinknear.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Asuslinknear.exe process comes from a malicious application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware form uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost nonfunctional because of high CPU use.
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What is Asuslinknear.exe process?

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

As I have actually pointed out in the introduction, Asuslinknear.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file may be diverse, however, the effects are usually the identical. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your personal computer to run this operation. This virus does not take note of the fact that you probably want to use your PC for other activities – it will constantly use over 80% of your CPU power.

Asuslinknear.exe Windows Process

Asuslinknear.exe – Very high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Asuslinknear.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes may lead to sad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful machine is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Microsoft Defender is stopped;
  • CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start
  • Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise
  • A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power
  • How dangerous is the Asuslinknear.exe miner?

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

    First, Asuslinknear.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all processor power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, 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 experience extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.

    Asuslinknear.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameAsuslinknear.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorMusnotifyicon.exe, Tutle.exe, Svcrun.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Asuslinknear.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Asuslinknear.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To execute all malevolent functions properly, it wrecks the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the original in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for a long period of time may cause damage to your device as well as raise power expenses. PC elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and covered processor fan is hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Asuslinknear.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have very fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Asuslinknear.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 common malevolent programs through “serious” viruses. Adware often functions as a carrier for Asuslinknear.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that approximately 30% of all viruses spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Asuslinknear.exe is just with them.

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for each installation. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright 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 sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Asuslinknear.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 requires the use of specific app. Proper antivirus should have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage also on weak computers. In addition, it is recommended to have proactive protection in your security solution – to prevent the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these elements for different factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great option that fits all of the specified qualities.4

    Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Asuslinknear.exe miner takes a lot of processor 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 applications, along with the majority of non-critical system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Asuslinknear.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 Asuslinknear.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Asuslinknear.exe

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