Cmmon32.exe executable file is related to a harmful program that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unusable because of high CPU usage.
What is Cmmon32.exe process?
Cmmon32.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Cmmon32.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Cmmon32.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Cmmon32.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Cmmon32.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely sluggish performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Cmmon32.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Cmmon32.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Postinstall.exe, Anydesk.exe, Vmsa.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Cmmon32.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single bad thing coin miners do to your PC. Cmmon32.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malicious operations correctly, it ruins the security features 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 coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, running at peak power for long times may cause damage to your machine and increase power expenses. PC components are created to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected processor cooling system is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Cmmon32.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also prone to have very fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is likely a bad case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Cmmon32.exe coin miner virus?
Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more 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 versions of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for each setup. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Cmmon32.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
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, along with the majority of non-crucial system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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