Change.exe process is related to a harmful application that can properly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost unusable because of high CPU utilization.
What is Change.exe process?
Change.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified in the introduction, Change.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file can be different, but the impacts are generally the identical. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware power of your personal computer to run this process. This malware does not pay attention to the fact that you probably need to use your system for other activities – it will always take over 80% of your processor power.
Change.exe – Really high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Change.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes can result in unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong computer is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” 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 Change.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Change.exe malware makes your PC 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 demands, 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 incredibly sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that does a job online.
Change.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Change.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Certenrollctrl.exe, Certreq.exe, Camerasettingsuihost.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Change.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary negative thing coin miners perform to your computer. Change.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To conduct all malicious functions properly, it ruins the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for long times can cause damage to your device as well as increase electricity expenses. Hardware elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and covered CPU fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Change.exe can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Change.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 prevalent malicious programs through “severe” viruses. Adware frequently works as a carrier for Change.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that around 30% of all malware spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Change.exe is just with them.
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for each setup. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright 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 software and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Change.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 involves using special software. Appropriate antivirus must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage even on weak systems. Additionally, it is better to have on-run protection in your protection tool – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these elements for different reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits all of the discussed qualities.4
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Change.exe miner consumes 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.
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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, just like the majority of non-crucial system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Change.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 Change.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Change.exe
Description: The Change.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Change.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.
