Bcdedit.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Bcdedit.exe process belongs to a malevolent program that can correctly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much unusable as a result of high CPU usage.
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What is Bcdedit.exe process?

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

As I have pointed out previously, Bcdedit.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file may be different, however, the impacts are almost always the identical. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your personal computer to run this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you probably need to use your machine for other activities – it will consistently take over 80% of your processor power.

Bcdedit.exe Windows Process

Bcdedit.exe – Very high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Bcdedit.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may result in unhappy results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining 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 high-end computer is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks 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

  • Your device overheats (system unit/laptop body is very hot)
  • You are not able to open your apps or they are opening for ages
  • Unknown process is running in the background and consumes your PC resources
  • Windows Defender does not respond
  • How dangerous is the Bcdedit.exe miner?

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

    First of all, Bcdedit.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, because all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience extremely slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that does a job online.

    Bcdedit.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameBcdedit.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorBackgroundtransferhost.exe, Bcdboot.exe, Baaupdate.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Bcdedit.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners perform to your computer. Bcdedit.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malicious operations successfully, it wrecks the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the original in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your device as well as increase electricity costs. 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.

    Small and well-protected CPU cooling system is hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Bcdedit.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Bcdedit.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 widespread malicious programs among “major” viruses. Adware often functions as a carrier for Bcdedit.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that about 30% of all viruses spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Bcdedit.exe is right among them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious web page as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. For this reason, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every installation. Before blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Bcdedit.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 requires making use of specific tool. Proper antivirus should have high performance at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage also on weak systems. Additionally, it is better to have proactive security in your security tool – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits all of the specified qualities.5

    Before the virus removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Bcdedit.exe miner takes a lot of CPU capacity, it is needed 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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, just like the majority of non-critical Windows 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 Bcdedit.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 Bcdedit.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Bcdedit.exe

    Description: The Bcdedit.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Bcdedit.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. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. 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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