Maxim.exe executable file is related to a harmful application that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost nonfunctional because of high CPU use.
What is Maxim.exe process?
Maxim.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Maxim.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Maxim.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes may lead to bad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Maxim.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Maxim.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, 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 sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that does a job online.
Maxim.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Maxim.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Mobile.exe, Markets.exe, Mccshieldose.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Maxim.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary bad thing coin miners perform to your system. Maxim.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malicious functions properly, it wrecks the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, running at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine as well as increase power bills. Hardware elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and covered CPU cooling system is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Maxim.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Maxim.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
Another way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each setup. Before blaming these guys for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Maxim.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, along with 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 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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