Gpumonitor.exe process belongs to a malicious program that can accurately be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost nonfunctional because of high CPU usage.
What is Gpumonitor.exe process?
Gpumonitor.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out previously, Gpumonitor.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file may be different, but the effects are usually the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware power of your PC to run this process. This virus doesn’t take note of the fact that you probably need to make use of your device for other activities – it will constantly use over 80% of your CPU power.
Gpumonitor.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Gpumonitor.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may cause bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the operation 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 very strong computer is needed. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who make profit 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 Gpumonitor.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Gpumonitor.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all processor power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from incredibly sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Gpumonitor.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Gpumonitor.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Lineinst.exe, Minerhash.exe, Zecminer64.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Gpumonitor.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your PC. Gpumonitor.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malicious functions correctly, it wrecks the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the original in the process of PC 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 as well as increase power costs. PC components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Little and well-protected CPU fan is hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while working, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Gpumonitor.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also tend to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Gpumonitor.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 malevolent programs among “serious” malware. Adware sometimes functions as a carrier for Gpumonitor.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Gpumonitor.exe is right among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every setup. Before criticizing these individuals for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Gpumonitor.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 software. Proper antivirus should have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage also on weak PCs. On top of that, it is better to have on-run security in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for various reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal option that fits each of the discussed qualities.5
Before the malware removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Gpumonitor.exe miner takes 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.
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 software, along with the majority of non-critical Windows 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 Gpumonitor.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 Gpumonitor.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Gpumonitor.exe
Description: The Gpumonitor.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Gpumonitor.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.
