Neofim.exe process comes from a malevolent program that can properly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unfunctional due to high CPU utilization.
What is Neofim.exe process?
Neofim.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Neofim.exe – Very high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Neofim.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often may cause sad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Neofim.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, Neofim.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.
Neofim.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Neofim.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Chipset.exe, Spooltracksystem.exe, Wandrv6_reboot.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Neofim.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single bad thing coin miners do to your computer. Neofim.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To conduct all malevolent functions successfully, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments are about to be reverted to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your device and increase power expenses. Hardware components are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while working, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Neofim.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Neofim.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 thing on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy site 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 earn money. Thus, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for each installation. Before blaming these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Neofim.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer 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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