Eth.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Eth.exe executable file is related to a malevolent program that can accurately be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly unusable because of high CPU usage.

What is Eth.exe process?

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

Eth.exe – Really high CPU/GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Eth.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can result in sad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

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 Eth.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, Eth.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that does a job online.

    Eth.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your personal computer. Eth.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malevolent operations correctly, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. 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 system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for a long period of time may cause damage to your machine as well as raise power costs. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered CPU fan is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while running, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Eth.exe malware can easily lead to GPU failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad situation when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Eth.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 PC is by downloading it from the unreliable website as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. For this reason, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for each setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Eth.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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, just like the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU 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.

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    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.

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