Chxsmartscreen.exe process is related to a malevolent program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware form uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unfunctional because of high CPU utilization.
What is Chxsmartscreen.exe process?
Chxsmartscreen.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have mentioned previously, Chxsmartscreen.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, but the consequences are generally the same. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your desktop to run this operation. This malware does not pay attention to the fact that you probably need to use your desktop for other tasks – it will consistently use over 80% of your CPU power.
Chxsmartscreen.exe – Very high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will probably 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 Chxsmartscreen.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may cause sad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful computer is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters 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
How dangerous is the Chxsmartscreen.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First off, Chxsmartscreen.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all processor power is used 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 browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.
Chxsmartscreen.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Chxsmartscreen.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Excel.exe, Rdpsaproxy.exe, Locationnotificationwindows.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Chxsmartscreen.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single bad activity coin miners do to your computer. Chxsmartscreen.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To execute all malicious functions properly, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for long times can cause damage to your machine as well as 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 covered processor fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while spinning, for instance, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Chxsmartscreen.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Chxsmartscreen.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 prevalent malicious programs among “serious” malware. Adware sometimes acts as a carrier for Chxsmartscreen.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that around 30% of all viruses spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Chxsmartscreen.exe is just with them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious website as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus program and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Chxsmartscreen.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 needs the use of special app. Effective anti-malware program should have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak computers. Additionally, it is recommended to have proactive protection in your protection tool – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for various reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits each of the discussed characteristics.5
Before the malware removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Chxsmartscreen.exe miner takes a lot of processor power, it is required 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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Chxsmartscreen.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 Chxsmartscreen.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Chxsmartscreen.exe
Description: The Chxsmartscreen.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Chxsmartscreen.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.
- Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
