Nheqagent.exe process is related to a malicious application that can accurately be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unfunctional because of high CPU usage.
What is Nheqagent.exe process?
Nheqagent.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Nheqagent.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Nheqagent.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may cause sad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Nheqagent.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, Nheqagent.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience extremely sluggish performance. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Nheqagent.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Nheqagent.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Pceve.exe, Proquota.exe, Raptor.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Nheqagent.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single negative thing coin miners perform to your system. Nheqagent.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malevolent functions effectively, it ruins the protection 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 lot of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, performing at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your machine as well as raise electricity costs. PC components are created to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and covered CPU cooling system is quite hard 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 coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Nheqagent.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Nheqagent.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 item on your PC is by downloading it from the untrustworthy website as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. Hence, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Nheqagent.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-crucial system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC 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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