Calc.exe process belongs to a malicious program that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much nonfunctional because of high CPU use.
What is Calc.exe process?
Calc.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually specified previously, Calc.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, however, the consequences are usually the identical. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware power of your personal computer to conduct this procedure. This malware doesn’t pay attention to the fact that you probably need to use your device for other tasks – it will continuously use over 80% of your CPU power.
Calc.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Calc.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes may lead to unhappy consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful machine is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who gain money 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 Calc.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Calc.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Calc.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Calc.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Baldi.exe, Trojan.win32, Bthudtask.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Calc.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary bad thing coin miners do to your system. Calc.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malevolent operations properly, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, running at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your machine and increase power costs. Hardware components are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and well-protected processor fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Calc.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted case when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Calc.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 widespread malicious programs among “severe” malware. Adware sometimes works as a carrier for Calc.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that approximately 30% of all viruses spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Calc.exe is right among them.
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 suspicious site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every installation. Before blaming these guys for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Calc.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Removing such a virus requires the use of specific app. Appropriate security tool should have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak systems. In addition, it is recommended to have proactive protection in your security tool – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for different reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits each of the specified qualities.4
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to reboot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Calc.exe miner takes 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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Calc.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 Calc.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Calc.exe
Description: The Calc.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Calc.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.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
