Lykaa.exe executable file comes from a malevolent program that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unusable as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Lykaa.exe process?
Lykaa.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have mentioned in the previous paragraph, Lykaa.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the impacts are usually the same. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your desktop to perform this process. This virus does not take note of the fact that you probably need to make use of your machine for other activities – it will consistently use over 80% of your CPU power.
Lykaa.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Lykaa.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can result in unhappy results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining term means the activity 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. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Lykaa.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Lykaa.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally slow performance. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.
Lykaa.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Lykaa.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | File.exe, Pass_1234.exe, Setup__pass__1234.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Lykaa.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary negative thing coin miners do to your PC. Lykaa.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To perform all malicious functions successfully, it ruins the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you check 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 adjustments are about to be reverted to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, running at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your device as well as raise power costs. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Little and well-protected processor cooling system is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Lykaa.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also prone to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely 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 Lykaa.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 prevalent malevolent programs through “serious” malware. Adware frequently works as a carrier for Lykaa.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that approximately 30% of all viruses spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Lykaa.exe is right with them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Therefore, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Lykaa.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 making use of specific program. Appropriate anti-malware program must have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak PCs. In addition, it is recommended to have proactive protection in your security tool – to prevent the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for different reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits each of the mentioned characteristics.5
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Lykaa.exe miner takes a lot of processor power, 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.
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-critical Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Lykaa.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.
After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.
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.
Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.
Remove Lykaa.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Lykaa.exe
Description: The Lykaa.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Lykaa.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
User Review
( votes)References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
- Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
