Minerstat.exe process comes from a malicious program that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unusable due to high CPU use.
What is Minerstat.exe process?
Minerstat.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Minerstat.exe – Really high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Minerstat.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes may lead to bad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Minerstat.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, Minerstat.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, as all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly slow performance. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that works online.
Minerstat.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Minerstat.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Data00.vji, Unrealcefsubprocess.exe, 2nd.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Minerstat.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Minerstat.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To execute all malevolent operations correctly, it wrecks the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your machine as well as raise power expenses. Hardware elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and covered processor fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Minerstat.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable case when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Minerstat.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 computer is by downloading it from the dubious site as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. Hence, there is a huge lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every installation. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus program and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Minerstat.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 applications, just like the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer 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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