Bsmss.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Bsmss.exe process belongs to a harmful program that can accurately be defined as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost unusable because of high CPU usage.

What is Bsmss.exe process?

Bsmss.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Bsmss.exe Windows Process

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

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Bsmss.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often can result in unhappy results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

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 Bsmss.exe miner?

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

    Firstly, Bsmss.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all processor power is consumed by a malware. 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 browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.

    Bsmss.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Bsmss.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Lolbtg.exe, Weather.exe, Prime.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Bsmss.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a single negative activity coin miners perform to your system. Bsmss.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malicious functions successfully, it wrecks the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be gone back to the original in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your machine as well as increase power bills. PC components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Little and well-protected processor fan 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 before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Bsmss.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Bsmss.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Hence, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for each setup. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program and new parts for your desktop.

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

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

    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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with the majority of non-critical system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security engineer focused on malware behavior, removal workflows, and Windows hardening. Robert reviews threat articles for practical accuracy, checking detection names, symptoms, and cleanup steps before publication.

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