Mpu.exe process is related to a harmful application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unusable due to high CPU utilization.
What is Mpu.exe process?
Mpu.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Mpu.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Mpu.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can lead to unhappy results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Mpu.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Mpu.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all processor power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.
Mpu.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Mpu.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Cash.exe, Cash.exe, Spepopud.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Mpu.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single bad activity coin miners perform to your computer. Mpu.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To execute all malicious operations properly, it ruins 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 load of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be reverted to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak level for a long period of time can cause damage to your device as well as raise electricity bills. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and covered processor fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Mpu.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad 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 Mpu.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 thing on your PC is by downloading it from the unreliable website as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require 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 app and acquire a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Mpu.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 apps, along with the majority of non-crucial system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system 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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