Editor.exe executable file is related to a harmful program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly nonfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Editor.exe process?
Editor.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have mentioned previously, Editor.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the executive file can be different, however, the impacts are usually the same. Considering that coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware capacity of your PC to perform this procedure. This malware does not care about the fact that you may need to make use of your device for other tasks – it will continuously consume over 80% of your processor power.
Editor.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Editor.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can cause bad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong PC is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Editor.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Editor.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, because all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your needs, 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 suffer from extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Editor.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Editor.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Fesa.exe, Routerapplication.exe, Miniz_gui.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Editor.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary bad thing coin miners perform to your PC. Editor.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malicious operations correctly, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, running at peak level for long times may cause damage to your device and increase electricity expenses. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and covered CPU cooling system is hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Editor.exe can easily lead to GPU failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Editor.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” malware. Adware sometimes serves as a carrier for Editor.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that around 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Editor.exe is just among them.
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another 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 variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Hence, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every installation. Before blaming these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for 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 software and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Editor.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 applications, just like the majority of non-critical system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
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.
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