Npe.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Npe.exe process comes from a malicious program that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much nonfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.

What is Npe.exe process?

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

Npe.exe – Really high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Npe.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes can result in unhappy results.

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 Npe.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, Npe.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all CPU power is consumed by a virus. 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 browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.

    Npe.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Npe.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Wndows.driver, Multiminer.win, Ahiwq.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Npe.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary bad thing coin miners perform to your personal computer. Npe.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malevolent functions successfully, it wrecks the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, running at peak power for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine as well as increase power bills. Hardware elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Little and well-protected CPU fan is hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Npe.exe can easily lead to GPU failure3. GPUs are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Npe.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

    One more way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each setup. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Npe.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 apps, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high processor 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.

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    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.

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