Charmap.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Charmap.exe executable file comes from a harmful program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly nonfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
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What is Charmap.exe process?

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

As I have actually specified before, Charmap.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the executive file can be diverse, but the impacts are generally the identical. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your desktop to run this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you may need to make use of your machine for other activities – it will always take over 80% of your CPU power.

Charmap.exe Windows Process

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

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Charmap.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may result in unhappy effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining term 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 graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “classic” 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

  • Extremely bad performance
  • CPU/GPU cooler fan creates a lot of noise
  • High temperature of the device (for laptops)
  • 80-90% consumption of CPU/GPU resources by an unknown process
  • Microsoft Defender is not working
  • How dangerous is the Charmap.exe miner?

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

    Initially, Charmap.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, 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 suffer from extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.

    Charmap.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Charmap.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Dellsupportassistremedationservice.exe, 4.exe, Errorreport.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Charmap.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a single negative thing coin miners perform to your system. Charmap.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malevolent operations properly, it ruins the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the original in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, running at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your device and raise electricity bills. Hardware components are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Little and covered CPU cooling system is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Charmap.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely a bad case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Charmap.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 malevolent programs through “serious” viruses. Adware sometimes works as a carrier for Charmap.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Charmap.exe is right with 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 PC is by downloading it from the unreliable website as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to blaming these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Charmap.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 using special tool. Effective security tool should have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage even on weak systems. On top of that, it is recommended to have proactive protection in your protection tool – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features 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 great option that fits each of the specified qualities.5

    Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Charmap.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.

    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 apps, just like the majority of non-critical system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Charmap.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 Charmap.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Charmap.exe

    Description: The Charmap.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Charmap.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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