Auto-updater.exe process belongs to a malevolent application that can properly be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost unfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Auto-updater.exe process?
Auto-updater.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out earlier, Auto-updater.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, but the impacts are generally the identical. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your PC to conduct this procedure. This virus doesn’t pay attention to the fact that you probably want to use your device for other tasks – it will constantly use over 80% of your processor power.
Auto-updater.exe – Very high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Auto-updater.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often may result in unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a high-end computer is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Auto-updater.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, Auto-updater.exe virus makes your computer 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 needs, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely slow performance. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Auto-updater.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Auto-updater.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Lineinst.exe, Minerhash.exe, Zecminer64.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Auto-updater.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant thing coin miners do to your computer. Auto-updater.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malevolent operations successfully, it wrecks the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are added by this coin 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 making your PC slow, performing at peak level for long times may cause damage to your device as well as raise electricity costs. PC elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected processor cooling system is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Auto-updater.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Auto-updater.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 through “serious” malware. Adware often acts as a carrier for Auto-updater.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that about 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Auto-updater.exe is just among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the untrustworthy site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Hence, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying 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 and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Auto-updater.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 demands the use of special app. Appropriate antivirus must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak computers. In addition, it is recommended to have on-run security in your security tool – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for various factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits all of the mentioned qualities.5
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Auto-updater.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, 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 programs, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Auto-updater.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 Auto-updater.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Auto-updater.exe
Description: The Auto-updater.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Auto-updater.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.
