Driver-windows.exe process is related to a malevolent program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost nonfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Driver-windows.exe process?
Driver-windows.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Driver-windows.exe – Really high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Driver-windows.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can lead to bad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Driver-windows.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First of all, Driver-windows.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow performance. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.
Driver-windows.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Driver-windows.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Serverapp.exe, Kernelx64.exe, Smwr.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Driver-windows.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your system. Driver-windows.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious operations properly, it ruins the security mechanisms 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 ton of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, performing at peak power for long times may trigger damage to your device as well as increase power expenses. PC components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Little and well-protected CPU cooling system is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for instance, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Driver-windows.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. GPUs are also tend to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Driver-windows.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 PC is by downloading it from the unreliable web page as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper 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 Driver-windows.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-critical operating system 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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