Microsoftedgeupdate.exe executable file is related to a malicious program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unfunctional because of high CPU usage.
What is Microsoftedgeupdate.exe process?
Microsoftedgeupdate.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Microsoftedgeupdate.exe – Really high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Microsoftedgeupdate.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes can lead to sad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Microsoftedgeupdate.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Microsoftedgeupdate.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is consumed by a malware. 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 web browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Microsoftedgeupdate.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Microsoftedgeupdate.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Nvscpapisvr.exe, Rtkaudioservice64.exe, Totalcmd64.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Microsoftedgeupdate.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary bad thing coin miners perform to your system. Microsoftedgeupdate.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious functions successfully, it wrecks 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 ton of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, performing at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine and increase power costs. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and well-protected processor cooling system is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while working, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Microsoftedgeupdate.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Microsoftedgeupdate.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
An additional way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy website as a part of a program. People 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 temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for each setup. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Microsoftedgeupdate.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 system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC 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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