Microsoft edge.exe process is related to a malicious program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unfunctional due to high CPU usage.
What is Microsoft edge.exe process?
Microsoft edge.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Microsoft edge.exe – Really high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Microsoft edge.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often may cause unhappy consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Microsoft edge.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Microsoft edge.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely suffer from incredibly sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Microsoft edge.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Microsoft edge.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Dellusere.exe, Et.exe, Setup32.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Microsoft edge.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single negative activity coin miners perform to your computer. Microsoft edge.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malevolent functions successfully, it ruins the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to 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, running at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your machine as well as increase electricity expenses. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and well-protected CPU cooling system is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Microsoft edge.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Microsoft edge.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 suspicious website as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for each setup. Before criticizing these individuals for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Microsoft edge.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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, just like the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor 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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