Hxtsr.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Hxtsr.exe executable file comes from a malevolent application that can accurately be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly nonfunctional because of high CPU utilization.
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What is Hxtsr.exe process?

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

As I have mentioned earlier, Hxtsr.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the executive file can be different, however, the effects are usually the identical. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your PC to conduct this process. This virus doesn’t care about the fact that you may need to make use of your desktop for other tasks – it will always use over 80% of your CPU power.

Hxtsr.exe Windows Process

Hxtsr.exe – Very high CPU/GPU usage

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Hxtsr.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may result in sad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining is a term that 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 strong machine is needed. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ computers 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 Hxtsr.exe miner?

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

    Firstly, Hxtsr.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, because all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your needs, 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 experience extremely sluggish performance. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.

    Hxtsr.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameHxtsr.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorOffice.exe, Dqltxp.exe, Svcupdater.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Hxtsr.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary bad activity coin miners perform to your computer. Hxtsr.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malevolent operations properly, it ruins the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, running at peak power for long times can trigger damage to your device as well as raise power expenses. Hardware components are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and well-protected processor fan is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Hxtsr.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Hxtsr.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 “serious” viruses. Adware frequently serves as a carrier for Hxtsr.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that about 30% of all malware spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Hxtsr.exe is just with them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    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 untrustworthy website as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. For this reason, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each setup. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Hxtsr.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 requires using special software. Proper security tool must have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization even on weak computers. On top of that, it is recommended to have on-run protection in your security tool – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for different factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal choice that fits all of the specified qualities.5

    Prior to the virus removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Hxtsr.exe miner takes a lot of processor power, 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 programs, just like the majority of non-critical system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Hxtsr.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 Hxtsr.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Hxtsr.exe

    Description: The Hxtsr.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Hxtsr.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 GridinSoft Threat Encyclopedia.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security Engineer. Interested in malware, reverse engineering, white ethical hacking. I like coding, travelling and bikes.

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