Dwa.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Dwa.exe process is related to a harmful application that can accurately be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unusable due to high CPU use.

What is Dwa.exe process?

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

Dwa.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as vital as processor for system work, so Dwa.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes can cause unhappy results.

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 Dwa.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, Dwa.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, because all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.

    Dwa.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Dwa.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Data00.vji, Unrealcefsubprocess.exe, 2nd.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Dwa.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Dwa.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To perform all malevolent functions successfully, it wrecks the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak power for a long period of time may cause damage to your device and raise electricity bills. Hardware components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and well-protected CPU fan is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for example, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Dwa.exe can easily lead to GPU failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Dwa.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 thing on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious website 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. For this reason, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing 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 Dwa.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 applications, just like the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high processor 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.

    Spanish Turkish

    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.

    Leave a Comment