Au.exe process is related to a harmful application that can properly be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unusable due to high CPU utilization.
What is Au.exe process?
Au.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually mentioned in the introduction, Au.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the executive file may be diverse, but the impacts are generally the identical. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware power of your personal computer to perform this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you may need to make use of your device for other activities – it will constantly consume over 80% of your CPU power.
Au.exe – Very high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Au.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes can lead to unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that 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 PC is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Au.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, Au.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, 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 struggle with extremely sluggish performance. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.
Au.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Au.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Syn.exe, Networkdistributionsvchost.exe, Wrntrsvc.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Au.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary negative activity coin miners perform to your personal computer. Au.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious functions effectively, it wrecks the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine as well as increase power costs. PC elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected CPU cooling system is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for example, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Au.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Au.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 “major” viruses. Adware often works as a carrier for Au.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Au.exe is just with them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the unreliable website as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Au.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 using special app. Effective antivirus must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak computers. Furthermore, 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 elements for various factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits each of the specified qualities.5
Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Au.exe miner takes a lot of CPU 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.
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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, just like the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Au.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 Au.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Au.exe
Description: The Au.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Au.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.
