Kmr.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Kmr.exe process belongs to a malicious program that can properly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unusable due to high CPU use.
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What is Kmr.exe process?

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

As I have pointed out previously, Kmr.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the impacts are generally the identical. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware capacity of your PC to run this operation. This malware does not pay attention to the fact that you probably want to use your PC for other activities – it will always consume over 80% of your processor power.

Kmr.exe Windows Process

Kmr.exe – Very high CPU/GPU use

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Kmr.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can result in sad effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a strong computer is needed. Exactly, the GPU is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who make profit 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 Kmr.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, Kmr.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all processor power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.

    Kmr.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameKmr.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorMane.exe, Doc001.exe, Spiwow64.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Kmr.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners do to your PC. Kmr.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malevolent functions effectively, it ruins 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 ton of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, performing at peak level for long times can cause damage to your device as well as raise power bills. PC elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered processor cooling system is hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Kmr.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Kmr.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 common malicious programs through “serious” viruses. Adware frequently works as a carrier for Kmr.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Kmr.exe is right with them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    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 web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Kmr.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 needs the use of specific tool. Effective security tool should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage even on weak systems. Additionally, it is recommended to have on-run security in your protection solution – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits all of the specified features.5

    Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Kmr.exe miner takes a lot of processor capacity, it is needed to halt 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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Kmr.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 Kmr.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Kmr.exe

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