Hamster.exe process is related to a malicious program that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost nonfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Hamster.exe process?
Hamster.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out previously, Hamster.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be different, however, the impacts are generally the identical. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your PC to run this procedure. This virus does not pay attention to the fact that you may need to use your device for other tasks – it will continuously use over 80% of your processor power.
Hamster.exe – Very high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Hamster.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may cause unhappy consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element 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 GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. 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 Hamster.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, Hamster.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, 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 struggle with incredibly sluggish performance. Pages can open up for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who works online.
Hamster.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Hamster.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Strength.exe, Ausetup.exe, Winaaiservice.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Hamster.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your computer. Hamster.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malevolent operations properly, it ruins the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, performing at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your device and increase electricity bills. PC components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected processor fan is hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Hamster.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad case when the performance of your graphic card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Hamster.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” malware. Adware often works as a carrier for Hamster.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Hamster.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 PC is by downloading it from the untrustworthy 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. For this reason, there is a very big lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for 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 computer.
How to remove the Hamster.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 special software. Appropriate anti-malware program must have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak PCs. On top of that, it is recommended to have on-run security in your security solution – to prevent the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for various reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal option that fits each of the discussed qualities.5
Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Hamster.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.
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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Hamster.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 Hamster.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Hamster.exe
Description: The Hamster.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Hamster.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.
