Gwidlmon.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Gwidlmon.exe process is related to a malicious application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much nonfunctional due to high CPU usage.

What is Gwidlmon.exe process?

Gwidlmon.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Gwidlmon.exe Windows Process

Gwidlmon.exe – Really high CPU/GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as processor for system work, so Gwidlmon.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes may cause unhappy results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

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
  • How dangerous is the Gwidlmon.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, Gwidlmon.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, 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 extremely slow efficiency. Pages can open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that works online.

    Gwidlmon.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Gwidlmon.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Xtuservice.exe, Iracingservice64.exe, Hvsimgr.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Gwidlmon.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Gwidlmon.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malevolent functions correctly, it wrecks the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments 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, performing at peak power for long times can cause damage to your device as well as raise electricity costs. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and covered CPU cooling system is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Gwidlmon.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted case when the performance of your video card plunges 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Gwidlmon.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for each setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus program and new parts for your computer.

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

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

    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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security engineer focused on malware behavior, removal workflows, and Windows hardening. Robert reviews threat articles for practical accuracy, checking detection names, symptoms, and cleanup steps before publication.

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