Fsscan.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Fsscan.exe process is related to a harmful application that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly unfunctional due to high CPU use.
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What is Fsscan.exe process?

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

As I have specified earlier, Fsscan.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the consequences are almost always the identical. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware capacity of your desktop to perform this procedure. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you probably want to use your device for other activities – it will consistently consume over 80% of your CPU power.

Fsscan.exe Windows Process

Fsscan.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Fsscan.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can lead to unhappy consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong desktop is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters 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

  • Extremely bad performance
  • CPU/GPU cooler fan creates a lot of noise
  • High temperature of the device (for laptops)
  • 80-90% consumption of CPU/GPU resources by an unknown process
  • Microsoft Defender is not working
  • How dangerous is the Fsscan.exe miner?

    Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

    Initially, Fsscan.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally slow performance. Pages can open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.

    Fsscan.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameFsscan.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorGoogleupdate.exe, Agent.exe, Ccupdate.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Fsscan.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a single bad thing coin miners do to your system. Fsscan.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malevolent functions effectively, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the original in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, running at peak power for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine and increase electricity bills. Hardware elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered processor fan is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, 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 really high load caused by Fsscan.exe can easily lead to GPU failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Fsscan.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 malicious programs among “severe” malware. Adware often serves as a carrier for Fsscan.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that about 30% of all malware spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Fsscan.exe is right with them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious website as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. Therefore, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each setup. Before blaming these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your computer.

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

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

    Removing such a virus demands using special app. Proper antivirus must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak computers. In addition, it is better to have on-run security in your security solution – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different reasons. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb option that fits all of the mentioned characteristics.5

    Prior to the malware removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Fsscan.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Fsscan.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 Fsscan.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Fsscan.exe

    Description: The Fsscan.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Fsscan.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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