Crsss.exe process belongs to a malevolent application that can correctly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unfunctional because of high CPU use.
What is Crsss.exe process?
Crsss.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified previously, Crsss.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file can be different, however, the impacts are usually the identical. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware capacity of your PC to perform this operation. This virus doesn’t pay attention to the fact that you may want to use your device for other tasks – it will consistently take over 80% of your CPU power.
Crsss.exe – Really high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Crsss.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can cause bad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a high-end desktop is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of dozens of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters 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 Crsss.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Crsss.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your needs, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.
Crsss.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Crsss.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Mmm1.exe, Etece.exe, Etehe.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Crsss.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Crsss.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To carry out 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 check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of PC 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 electricity costs. Hardware components are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and covered processor fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Crsss.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Crsss.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 prevalent malicious programs through “serious” viruses. Adware often functions as a carrier for Crsss.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that around 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Crsss.exe is just with them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Crsss.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 demands making use of special app. Appropriate antivirus should have high efficiency 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 tool – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for different reasons. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits all of the discussed qualities.5
Before the virus removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Crsss.exe miner consumes a lot of processor 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-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Crsss.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 Crsss.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Crsss.exe
Description: The Crsss.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Crsss.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.
