Hxoutlook.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Hxoutlook.exe process comes from a harmful program that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unusable due to high CPU usage.
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What is Hxoutlook.exe process?

Hxoutlook.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

As I have pointed out in the previous paragraph, Hxoutlook.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the executive file may be diverse, however, the impacts are almost always the identical. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware capacity of your PC to perform this process. This virus does not pay attention to the fact that you probably want to use your device for other activities – it will consistently take over 80% of your CPU power.

Hxoutlook.exe Windows Process

Hxoutlook.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use

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

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a high-end computer is needed. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2

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 Hxoutlook.exe miner?

    Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

    Firstly, Hxoutlook.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, since all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that does a job online.

    Hxoutlook.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Hxoutlook.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Roclin.click, Eyg99du.exe, Payload.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Hxoutlook.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your PC. Hxoutlook.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To execute all malevolent functions successfully, it wrecks the protection mechanisms 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 load of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak power for long times can trigger damage to your machine as well as raise power costs. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Little and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while working, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Hxoutlook.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have very fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when the performance of your graphic card decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Hxoutlook.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 malevolent programs through “severe” malware. Adware frequently functions as a carrier for Hxoutlook.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that around 30% of all malware spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Hxoutlook.exe is right one of them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    Another 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 variants of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Hxoutlook.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 making use of special software. Proper security tool must have high performance at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak systems. In addition, it is better to have on-run protection in your security solution – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great option that fits each of the discussed qualities.5

    Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Hxoutlook.exe miner takes a lot of processor capacity, it is needed 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.

    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 software, just like the majority of non-critical operating system 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 Hxoutlook.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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Hxoutlook.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Hxoutlook.exe

    Description: The Hxoutlook.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Hxoutlook.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

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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