Contogl.exe executable file belongs to a malevolent program that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unusable due to high CPU utilization.
What is Contogl.exe process?
Contogl.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Contogl.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Contogl.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often may cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Contogl.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Contogl.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Contogl.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Contogl.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Mshta.exe, Ipconfig.exe, Robotdemo.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Contogl.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your personal computer. Contogl.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To perform all malevolent functions properly, it wrecks the security features 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 number of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be thrown back to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your system’s performance, performing at peak level for a long period of time may cause damage to your device as well as raise power costs. Hardware 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.
Little and covered CPU fan is hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke 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 Contogl.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Contogl.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
An additional way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious web page as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Contogl.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-critical Windows components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer 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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