Miniz_gui.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Miniz_gui.exe executable file belongs to a malicious program that can accurately be defined as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin¹. It makes your personal computer roughly unfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.

What is Miniz_gui.exe process?

Miniz_gui.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

Miniz_gui.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU usage

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Miniz_gui.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often may result in bad effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

Microsoft Defender is stopped;

CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start

Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise

A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power

How dangerous is the Miniz_gui.exe miner?

Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

Initially, Miniz_gui.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.

Miniz_gui.exe Technical Summary.

File Name	Miniz_gui.exe
Type	Trojan Coin Miner
Detection Name	Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
Distribution Method	Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
Similar behavior	Rjnhlsk.exe, Windows.exe, Astrill.exe
Removal	Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Miniz_gui.exe removal.

“Visible” harm is not a solitary bad thing coin miners perform to your PC. Miniz_gui.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious operations successfully, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be reverted 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 and raise power bills. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

Tiny and covered processor fan is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Miniz_gui.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure³. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted case when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

How did I get Miniz_gui.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 item on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each setup. Prior to blaming these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying 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 program as well as new parts for your PC.

How to remove the Miniz_gui.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 programs, along with the majority of non-critical system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.