Dsssm.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Dsssm.exe executable file comes from a malevolent application that can correctly be identified 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 nonfunctional due to high CPU utilization.

What is Dsssm.exe process?

Dsssm.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

Dsssm.exe – Really high CPU/GPU use

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Dsssm.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can lead to sad effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

Microsoft Defender is stopped;

CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start

Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise

A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power

How dangerous is the Dsssm.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, Dsssm.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages can open up for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.

Dsssm.exe Technical Summary.

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

“Visible” harm is not a single bad activity coin miners perform to your personal computer. Dsssm.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To execute all malicious functions effectively, it wrecks the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the original in the process of system recovery.

Hardware effects of coin miner activity

Besides making your computer slow, running at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine and increase power expenses. Hardware elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

Compact and covered processor fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Dsssm.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure³. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad case when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.

How did I get Dsssm.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

Another way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Therefore, there is a very big lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every installation. Before blaming these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.

How to remove the Dsssm.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 programs, along with the majority of non-critical system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.