Nscpu.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Nscpu.exe executable file belongs to a harmful application that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much nonfunctional because of high CPU usage.

What is Nscpu.exe process?

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

Nscpu.exe – Really high CPU/GPU use

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as processor for system work, so Nscpu.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes may result in unhappy effects.

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 Nscpu.exe miner?

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

    Initially, Nscpu.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.

    Nscpu.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Nscpu.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Wrap.exe, Vncutil.exe, Comsore3.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Nscpu.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary bad activity coin miners perform to your computer. Nscpu.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malicious operations effectively, it ruins the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be thrown back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your device as well as raise electricity costs. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered processor cooling system is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while working, for example, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Nscpu.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Nscpu.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 item on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each setup. Before criticizing these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Nscpu.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, just like the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you 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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