Googleupdatecore.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Googleupdatecore.exe process belongs to a malevolent application that can properly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much nonfunctional because of high CPU utilization.
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What is Googleupdatecore.exe process?

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

As I have specified previously, Googleupdatecore.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be different, however, the consequences are almost always the identical. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware capacity of your PC to conduct this operation. This virus doesn’t care about the fact that you probably need to use your computer for other activities – it will continuously take over 80% of your CPU power.

Googleupdatecore.exe Windows Process

Googleupdatecore.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Googleupdatecore.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can result in bad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a strong desktop is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “classic” 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.2

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • 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
  • How dangerous is the Googleupdatecore.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, Googleupdatecore.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, as all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from incredibly slow efficiency. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.

    Googleupdatecore.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Googleupdatecore.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Nvtmrep.exe, Officec2rclient.exe, Device.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Googleupdatecore.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary bad thing coin miners perform to your PC. Googleupdatecore.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To execute all malicious functions successfully, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid 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 computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the initial state in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your system’s performance, running at peak power for long times can trigger damage to your machine and increase power bills. Hardware components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered processor cooling system is hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for instance, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Googleupdatecore.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Googleupdatecore.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 one of the most prevalent malicious programs through “major” malware. Adware frequently acts as a carrier for Googleupdatecore.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Googleupdatecore.exe is just one of them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Hence, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Googleupdatecore.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 needs the use of special tool. Proper antivirus should have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak PCs. On top of that, it is recommended to have on-run protection in your security solution – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for different factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal option that fits all of the discussed features.5

    Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Googleupdatecore.exe miner takes a lot of CPU power, 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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, 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 PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Googleupdatecore.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 Googleupdatecore.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Googleupdatecore.exe

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