Npe.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
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.
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What is Npe.exe process?

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

As I have specified before, Npe.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the executive file may be diverse, however, the impacts are almost always the identical. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware power of your desktop to run this procedure. This virus doesn’t take note of the fact that you probably need to make use of your device for other tasks – it will continuously consume over 80% of your CPU power.

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

Crypto mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a high-end PC is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2

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 NameNpe.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorWndows.driver, Multiminer.win, Ahiwq.exe
    RemovalDownload 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

    Coin miners are one of the most common malicious programs among “serious” malware. Adware often acts as a carrier for Npe.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Npe.exe is just one of them.4

    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

    Eliminating such a virus requires the use of specific app. Appropriate anti-malware program should have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage even on weak PCs. Furthermore, it is better to have on-run security in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits all of the discussed features.5

    Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Npe.exe miner takes a lot of CPU power, it is needed to stop it before launching the security program. Otherwise, your scan will last for years, even though the GridinSoft program is pretty lightweight.

    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.

    Remove Npe.exe coin miner virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. You can use this anti-malware program for free during its 6-day trial period. In that term, all functions are available, and it takes no payments to remove malware from your system.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    When the scan is finished, press the Clean Now button to remove all detected elements from your system. This procedure takes less than a minute.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Npe.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Npe.exe

    Description: The Npe.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Npe.exe will create your CPU to go for very warm temperatures for prolonged periods of time, which could reduce the life of the CPU.

    Operating System: Windows

    Application Category: Trojan

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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