Mycmd.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Mycmd.exe process comes from a malicious application that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unfunctional due to high CPU use.

What is Mycmd.exe process?

Mycmd.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Mycmd.exe Windows Process

Mycmd.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU usage

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Mycmd.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may result in sad consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Extremely bad performance
  • CPU/GPU cooler fan creates a lot of noise
  • High temperature of the device (for laptops)
  • 80-90% consumption of CPU/GPU resources by an unknown process
  • Microsoft Defender is not working
  • How dangerous is the Mycmd.exe miner?

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

    First off, Mycmd.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly sluggish performance. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.

    Mycmd.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Mycmd.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Hidfind.exe, Msisa.exe, 7z2107.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Mycmd.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Mycmd.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To perform all malicious operations successfully, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be gone back to the original in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your computer, running at peak power for long times can trigger damage to your device as well as increase electricity costs. Hardware components are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Small and well-protected processor cooling system is not very easy 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 virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Mycmd.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Mycmd.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    An additional way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Mycmd.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.

    Boot into Windows Safe Mode

    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.

    windows safe mode boot option with command prompt

    When your computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with 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 CPU usage of the coin miner.

    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.

    Spanish Turkish

    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security engineer focused on malware behavior, removal workflows, and Windows hardening. Robert reviews threat articles for practical accuracy, checking detection names, symptoms, and cleanup steps before publication.

    Leave a Comment