Nvapi.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Nvapi.exe process belongs to a malevolent application that can properly be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost unfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.

What is Nvapi.exe process?

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

Nvapi.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Nvapi.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often may result in sad consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Microsoft Defender is stopped;
  • CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start
  • Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise
  • A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power
  • How dangerous is the Nvapi.exe miner?

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

    Firstly, Nvapi.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your needs, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.

    Nvapi.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary bad activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Nvapi.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious operations effectively, it wrecks the protection mechanisms 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 load of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the original in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your computer, performing at peak power for a long period of time may cause damage to your machine as well as raise electricity bills. PC elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered CPU fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Nvapi.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is likely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Nvapi.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 site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. For this reason, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for every installation. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and 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 bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Nvapi.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 applications, just like the majority of non-critical 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.

    Spanish Turkish

    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.

    Leave a Comment