Epicscale.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Epicscale.exe executable file belongs to a malevolent program that can properly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost unfunctional due to high CPU use.
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What is Epicscale.exe process?

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

As I have actually specified in the introduction, Epicscale.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file may be diverse, but the effects are usually the same. Considering that coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware capacity of your desktop to perform this operation. This virus doesn’t care about the fact that you probably want to make use of your machine for other tasks – it will consistently consume over 80% of your processor power.

Epicscale.exe Windows Process

Epicscale.exe – Really high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Epicscale.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes may cause bad effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful machine is needed. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who gain money 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

  • Your device overheats (system unit/laptop body is very hot)
  • You are not able to open your apps or they are opening for ages
  • Unknown process is running in the background and consumes your PC resources
  • Windows Defender does not respond
  • How dangerous is the Epicscale.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, Epicscale.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, as all CPU power is consumed 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 web browser is open, you will likely experience extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.

    Epicscale.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your system. Epicscale.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malevolent operations correctly, it wrecks the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be gone back to the original in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak power for long times may trigger damage to your device as well as increase power bills. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for example, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Epicscale.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when the performance of your graphic card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Epicscale.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 widespread malevolent programs through “serious” malware. Adware sometimes serves as a carrier for Epicscale.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that about 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Epicscale.exe is just among them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    An additional way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy web page as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a huge lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Epicscale.exe miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software

    Getting rid of such a virus needs using specific program. Proper anti-malware program must have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak PCs. Additionally, it is better to have on-run security in your security tool – to prevent the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for different reasons. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal choice that fits all of the specified characteristics.5

    Prior to the malware removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Epicscale.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU power, it is required to halt it before launching the security program. Otherwise, your scan will last for years, even though the GridinSoft program is pretty lightweight.

    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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, along with 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 processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Epicscale.exe coin miner virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. You can use this anti-malware program for free during its 6-day trial period. In that term, all functions are available, and it takes no payments to remove malware from your system.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    When the scan is finished, press the Clean Now button to remove all detected elements from your system. This procedure takes less than a minute.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Epicscale.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Epicscale.exe

    Description: The Epicscale.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Epicscale.exe will create your CPU to go for very warm temperatures for prolonged periods of time, which could reduce the life of the CPU.

    Operating System: Windows

    Application Category: Trojan

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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