Gpagent.exe process belongs to a malicious application that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unusable due to high CPU utilization.
What is Gpagent.exe process?
Gpagent.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out before, Gpagent.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file may be different, however, the consequences are generally the identical. Considering that coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your PC to conduct this operation. This virus doesn’t pay attention to the fact that you may need to make use of your device for other activities – it will always consume over 80% of your CPU power.
Gpagent.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Gpagent.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often can lead to sad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a high-end desktop is needed. Exactly, the GPU is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Gpagent.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, Gpagent.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly 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 who works online.
Gpagent.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Gpagent.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Fish.exe, Settings.exe, Microsofthost.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Gpagent.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single bad thing coin miners perform to your system. Gpagent.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malicious operations successfully, it wrecks the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, performing at peak level for long times can cause damage to your device as well as increase power bills. Hardware elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Little and covered processor fan is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for example, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Gpagent.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Gpagent.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 widespread malicious programs through “serious” viruses. Adware frequently acts as a carrier for Gpagent.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – 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 Gpagent.exe is right among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the unreliable website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Hence, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for every setup. Before blaming these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Gpagent.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 needs the use of specific app. Appropriate anti-malware program should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage even on weak PCs. Furthermore, it is recommended to have on-run protection in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for different reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits each of the mentioned qualities.5
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Gpagent.exe miner takes a lot of processor capacity, 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.
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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Gpagent.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.
After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.
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.
Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.
Remove Gpagent.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Gpagent.exe
Description: The Gpagent.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Gpagent.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
User Review
( votes)References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
- Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
