Cll.exe process belongs to a malevolent application that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware form uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly nonfunctional as a result of high CPU use.
What is Cll.exe process?
Cll.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually pointed out earlier, Cll.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the executive file can be different, but the impacts are usually the same. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware capacity of your PC to run this procedure. This virus does not pay attention to the fact that you probably want to use your desktop for other tasks – it will always consume over 80% of your CPU power.
Cll.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Cll.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It often can result in unhappy consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a high-end machine is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of dozens of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. 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
How dangerous is the Cll.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Cll.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Cll.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Cll.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Aggregatorhost.exe, Windows.security, Drive.watchdog |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Cll.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners do to your system. Cll.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malevolent operations 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 ton of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your system’s performance, performing at peak level for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine as well as raise electricity expenses. PC components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Little and covered CPU cooling system is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while working, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Cll.exe malware can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Cll.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 malevolent programs among “serious” viruses. Adware often acts as a carrier for Cll.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that about 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Cll.exe is right among them.4
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 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. Therefore, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for every installation. Before blaming these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Cll.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Eliminating such a virus needs the use of specific software. Effective antivirus must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage also on weak systems. In addition, it is better to have on-run security in your protection tool – to prevent the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for different factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits all of the mentioned features.5
Before the virus removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Cll.exe miner consumes 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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, just like the majority of non-critical Windows 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.
Remove Cll.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 Cll.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Cll.exe
Description: The Cll.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Cll.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.
