Img003.exe process belongs to a malevolent application that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unfunctional because of high CPU utilization.
What is Img003.exe process?
Img003.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Img003.exe – Really high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Img003.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often can cause sad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Img003.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Img003.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly sluggish efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.
Img003.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Img003.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Wlanutxdre.exe, Graphicsaccelerator.exe, Secservice.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Img003.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Img003.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malevolent functions successfully, it wrecks the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak power for long times may cause damage to your machine and raise power expenses. PC elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected processor fan is hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Img003.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. GPUs are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Img003.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 item on your PC is by downloading it from the unreliable web page as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Therefore, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for each setup. Before blaming these individuals for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Img003.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, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC 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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