Nssm.exe executable file belongs to a malicious program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost nonfunctional due to high CPU usage.
What is Nssm.exe process?
Nssm.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually pointed out in the previous paragraph, Nssm.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, however, the consequences are usually the identical. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware power of your PC to conduct this process. This virus doesn’t care about the fact that you may want to make use of your device for other tasks – it will constantly consume over 80% of your CPU power.
Nssm.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Nssm.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may lead to sad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency 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 machine is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Nssm.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, Nssm.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Nssm.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Nssm.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Wqwq.exe, Dc%d0%bentrol.exe, Pingo.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Nssm.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your system. Nssm.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malicious operations successfully, it wrecks the protection components 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 number of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your device as well as raise power expenses. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Little and well-protected CPU fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Nssm.exe virus can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Nssm.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 widespread malevolent programs among “major” malware. Adware often functions as a carrier for Nssm.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that around 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Nssm.exe is right with them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the unreliable web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a very big lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every installation. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Nssm.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 demands the use of specific app. Effective anti-malware program must have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak PCs. In addition, it is recommended to have on-run security in your security tool – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for various factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal option that fits each of the specified characteristics.5
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Nssm.exe miner takes a lot of CPU capacity, it is required to halt 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.
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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Nssm.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.
After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.
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.
Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.
Remove Nssm.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Nssm.exe
Description: The Nssm.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Nssm.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
User Review
( votes)References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
- Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
