AsusOSD.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey

What is AsusOSD.exe?

AsusOSD.exe is a process associated with ASUS (ASUSTeK Computer Inc.) motherboards and laptops. It’s related to the ASUS On-Screen Display (OSD) software, which provides visual notifications and overlays on your screen to display information about system settings, hardware status, and other related functions. The purpose of AsusOSD.exe is to manage these on-screen display notifications, allowing users to quickly access information about things like volume control, brightness adjustments, battery status, and more.

In essence, AsusOSD.exe is not a critical system process but rather a part of ASUS’s software suite that enhances user experience by offering convenient visual indicators and controls directly on the screen. If you encounter any issues with AsusOSD.exe, it’s a good idea to ensure that your ASUS drivers and software are up to date to prevent potential conflicts or problems.

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AsusOSD.exe is Safe or Not?

If the file “AsusOSD.exe” is located in a non-standard folder and is consuming a significant amount of CPU usage, it’s possible that it could be malicious, including the potential for being a coin miner or some other form of malware.

The legitimate “AsusOSD.exe” process, as mentioned earlier, is associated with ASUS’s On-Screen Display software and should not cause excessive CPU usage or be placed in non-standard locations. To determine whether the file is legitimate or malicious, consider the following guide.

AsusOSD.exe Windows Process

AsusOSD.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU use

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so AsusOSD.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often can result in bad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a high-end machine is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “usual” 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.

List of the typical AsusOSD 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 AsusOSD.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, AsusOSD.exe virus makes your PC 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 demands, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.

    AsusOSD.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameAsusOSD.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorAdobenotificationclient.exe, Iecrashhandler.exe, Bstyoops.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic AsusOSD.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary bad activity coin miners perform to your system. AsusOSD.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To conduct all malevolent operations correctly, it wrecks the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. 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 cryptomining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the original in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak level for a long period of time may cause damage to your device and increase electricity costs. Hardware components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Small and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by AsusOSD.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure. GPUs are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get AsusOSD.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 prevalent malicious programs among “severe” malware. Adware sometimes functions as a carrier for AsusOSD.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that about 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and AsusOSD.exe is right with them.

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    Another way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Hence, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in this manner? 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 desktop.

    How to remove the AsusOSD.exe miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software

    Getting rid of such a virus demands making use of special program. Proper anti-malware program must have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization even on weak computers. Additionally, it is recommended to have proactive protection in your security solution – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for different factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb option that fits each of the mentioned qualities.1

    Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since AsusOSD.exe miner takes a lot of processor power, it is required to halt 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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove AsusOSD.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 for AsusOSD.exe

    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 AsusOSD.exe process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove AsusOSD.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: AsusOSD.exe

    Description: AsusOSD.exe is not a critical system process but rather a part of ASUS's software suite that enhances user experience by offering convenient visual indicators and controls directly on the screen. If you encounter any issues with AsusOSD.exe, it's a good idea to ensure that your ASUS drivers and software are up to date to prevent potential conflicts or problems. If the file "AsusOSD.exe" is located in a non-standard folder and is consuming a significant amount of CPU usage, it's possible that it could be malicious, including the potential for being a coin miner or some other form of malware.

    Operating System: Windows

    Application Category: Trojan

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    References

    1. 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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