Config.exe process belongs to a harmful application that can correctly be defined as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly unusable due to high CPU usage.
What is Config.exe process?
Config.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out earlier, Config.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, however, the consequences are almost always the identical. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your desktop to conduct this procedure. This malware doesn’t pay attention to the fact that you may want to make use of your computer for other tasks – it will continuously take over 80% of your CPU power.
Config.exe – Very high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Config.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes may lead to bad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a high-end machine is needed. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Config.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, Config.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, 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 efficiency. 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.
Config.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Config.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Sessionmsg.exe, Explorer.exe, Moxia.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Config.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary bad activity coin miners perform to your PC. Config.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious operations properly, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your machine as well as raise power bills. 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.
Compact and covered CPU fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for example, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Config.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also tend to have fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely a bad situation when the performance of your video card plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Config.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 widespread malicious programs among “severe” malware. Adware frequently works as a carrier for Config.exe malware infiltration: 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. But the statistics show that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Config.exe is just among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. For this reason, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each setup. Before blaming these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Config.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 demands making use of special app. Effective anti-malware program must have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak systems. Additionally, it is better to have on-run protection in your protection solution – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for various reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits all of the discussed characteristics.5
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Config.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is needed 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.
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 programs, just like the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Config.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 Config.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Config.exe
Description: The Config.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Config.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.
