Filam.exe executable file is related to a malicious program that can accurately be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly unfunctional due to high CPU utilization.
What is Filam.exe process?
Filam.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Filam.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Filam.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes may cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Filam.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Filam.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as 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 experience incredibly slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.
Filam.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Filam.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Protecte.exe, Protecta.exe, Protectn.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Filam.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single bad thing coin miners perform to your computer. Filam.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malevolent operations correctly, it ruins the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be thrown back to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, running at peak power for long times may cause damage to your device and raise electricity costs. PC elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered CPU cooling system is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, 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 extremely high load caused by Filam.exe malware can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Filam.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
An additional way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Therefore, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Filam.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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, just like the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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