Fwplayer.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey

Fwplayer.exe executable file belongs to a malevolent program that can accurately be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unfunctional because of high CPU use.

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What is Fwplayer.exe process?

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

As I have actually specified previously, Fwplayer.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the impacts are almost always the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your desktop to run this operation. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you may need to use your PC for other activities – it will continuously consume over 80% of your CPU power.

Fwplayer.exe Windows Process

Fwplayer.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU use

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Fwplayer.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes can result in unhappy consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining means the action 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 strong machine is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.

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
  • |

  • Microsoft Defender is stopped;
  • CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start
  • Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise
  • A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power
  • |

  • 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 Fwplayer.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, Fwplayer.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, 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 struggle with extremely sluggish performance. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.

    Fwplayer.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameFwplayer.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorSubtitles.exe, Unpackcheck.exe, Updchrome.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Fwplayer.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your personal computer. Fwplayer.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malicious operations effectively, it ruins the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, running at peak level for a long period of time may cause damage to your machine as well as raise electricity costs. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and well-protected CPU fan is hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Fwplayer.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure2. GPUs are also prone to have fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely a bad case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

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

    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 untrustworthy website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for 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 as well as new parts for your PC.

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

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

    Eliminating such a virus demands making use of special app. Effective anti-malware program should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak systems. In addition, it is better to have on-run protection in your security solution – to prevent the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great option that fits each of the specified features.3

    Prior to the virus removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Fwplayer.exe miner takes a lot of processor capacity, it is required to stop 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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Fwplayer.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 for Fwplayer.exe

    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 Fwplayer.exe process

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

    Remove Fwplayer.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Fwplayer.exe

    Description: The Fwplayer.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Fwplayer.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. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    3. 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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