Dmwakeup.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Dmwakeup.exe executable file is related to a malicious application that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost nonfunctional due to high CPU use.

What is Dmwakeup.exe process?

Dmwakeup.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Dmwakeup.exe Windows Process

Dmwakeup.exe – Very high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Dmwakeup.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes may cause unhappy results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Extremely bad performance
  • CPU/GPU cooler fan creates a lot of noise
  • High temperature of the device (for laptops)
  • 80-90% consumption of CPU/GPU resources by an unknown process
  • Microsoft Defender is not working
  • How dangerous is the Dmwakeup.exe miner?

    Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

    First, Dmwakeup.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used by a virus. 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 browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who works online.

    Dmwakeup.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Dmwakeup.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Igfxhk.exe, Mousocoreworker.exe, Srbm.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Dmwakeup.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a single negative thing coin miners do to your personal computer. Dmwakeup.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious functions effectively, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent 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 PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be gone back to the original 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 device and increase electricity expenses. Hardware components are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while working, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Dmwakeup.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad case when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Dmwakeup.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    An additional way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Dmwakeup.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.

    Boot into Windows Safe Mode

    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.

    windows safe mode boot option with command prompt

    When your PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security engineer focused on malware behavior, removal workflows, and Windows hardening. Robert reviews threat articles for practical accuracy, checking detection names, symptoms, and cleanup steps before publication.

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