Hfhelper64.exe executable file belongs to a malicious application that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly nonfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Hfhelper64.exe process?
Hfhelper64.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Hfhelper64.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Hfhelper64.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can result in unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Hfhelper64.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, Hfhelper64.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.
Hfhelper64.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Hfhelper64.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Telegramunosetup.exe, Bsmss.exe, Setupsmss.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Hfhelper64.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single negative thing coin miners do to your computer. Hfhelper64.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malicious functions properly, it ruins the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak power for long times may trigger damage to your device and increase electricity bills. PC elements are created to easily deal 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 quite hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Hfhelper64.exe can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Hfhelper64.exe coin miner virus?
Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for every installation. Prior to blaming these guys for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in this manner? 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 desktop.
How to remove the Hfhelper64.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.
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-critical Windows components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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