Lms.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Lms.exe executable file comes from a malevolent program that can correctly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost nonfunctional due to high CPU usage.
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What is Lms.exe process?

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

As I have specified in the introduction, Lms.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the consequences are usually the same. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware power of your desktop to conduct this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you may want to make use of your PC for other activities – it will continuously consume over 80% of your CPU power.

Lms.exe Windows Process

Lms.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU usage

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Lms.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can result in sad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a high-end PC is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks 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 Lms.exe miner?

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

    First of all, Lms.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to 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 can open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.

    Lms.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners do to your PC. Lms.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious operations properly, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be thrown back 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 device as well as increase electricity bills. Hardware components are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and covered processor fan is quite hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Lms.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Lms.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 malicious programs among “major” malware. Adware frequently works as a carrier for Lms.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Lms.exe is right among them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    An additional way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy web page as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these people for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program and new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Lms.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 making use of special app. Effective antivirus must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage also on weak systems. Additionally, it is recommended to have on-run protection in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for various factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great choice that fits all of the mentioned characteristics.5

    Before the malware removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Lms.exe miner takes a lot of processor capacity, it is required 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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, along with the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Lms.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 Lms.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Lms.exe

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