Atiflash.exe process is related to a harmful program that can accurately be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unusable due to high CPU utilization.
What is Atiflash.exe process?
Atiflash.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have mentioned in the previous paragraph, Atiflash.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file may be different, however, the effects are usually the same. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware power of your desktop to perform this procedure. This virus does not take note of the fact that you probably need to make use of your desktop for other tasks – it will continuously take over 80% of your CPU power.
Atiflash.exe – Very high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Atiflash.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It often can cause bad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that means the action 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 very strong computer is needed. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. 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
How dangerous is the Atiflash.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Atiflash.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all CPU power is used by a virus. 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 web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.
Atiflash.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Atiflash.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Data00.vji, Unrealcefsubprocess.exe, 2nd.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Atiflash.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your computer. Atiflash.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malevolent functions successfully, it wrecks the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, performing at peak power for long times may cause damage to your machine and raise power expenses. PC components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Little and well-protected processor cooling system is hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Atiflash.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 undesirable case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Atiflash.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 common malicious programs among “severe” malware. Adware sometimes works as a carrier for Atiflash.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that approximately 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Atiflash.exe is right with them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the unreliable site as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each setup. Before criticizing these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Atiflash.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 the use of special tool. Effective antivirus should have high performance at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak computers. In addition, it is recommended to have on-run security in your security solution – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for different reasons. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great choice that fits all of the discussed features.5
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to reboot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Atiflash.exe miner consumes a lot of processor capacity, 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 software, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Atiflash.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 Atiflash.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Atiflash.exe
Description: The Atiflash.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Atiflash.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.
- Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
