Ghsetup.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Ghsetup.exe process is related to a malicious application that can properly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unusable due to high CPU utilization.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review
It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!
When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.
Gridinsoft Anti-Malware 6-day trial available.
EULA | Privacy Policy | 10% Off Coupon
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to be the first to know about news and our exclusive materials on information security.

What is Ghsetup.exe process?

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

As I have pointed out earlier, Ghsetup.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file can be different, but the impacts are usually the same. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your PC to conduct this operation. This virus does not take note of the fact that you probably want to use your machine for other tasks – it will consistently use over 80% of your CPU power.

Ghsetup.exe Windows Process

Ghsetup.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Ghsetup.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes may result in sad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a strong desktop is needed. Exactly, the GPU is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ computers 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 Ghsetup.exe miner?

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

    Initially, Ghsetup.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, because all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.

    Ghsetup.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameGhsetup.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorApphelpercap.exe, Schtasks.exe, Cmd.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Ghsetup.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners perform to your PC. Ghsetup.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malicious functions correctly, it ruins the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, running at peak power for a long period of time may cause damage to your device as well as raise power expenses. PC components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and well-protected CPU cooling system is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Ghsetup.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your graphic card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Ghsetup.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 malicious programs among “severe” malware. Adware sometimes acts as a carrier for Ghsetup.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Ghsetup.exe is just with them.

    Unwanted banners adware

    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 website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay 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 figure for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Ghsetup.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 involves making use of specific software. Appropriate anti-malware program must have high performance at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak computers. In addition, it is recommended to have on-run security in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for various factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb option that fits each of the mentioned qualities.4

    Prior to the malware removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Ghsetup.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU power, it is needed 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-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Ghsetup.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 Ghsetup.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Ghsetup.exe

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

    Sending
    User Review
    3.83 (6 votes)
    Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)

    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. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

    Spanish Turkish

    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.

    Leave a Reply

    Sending