P.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
P.exe executable file is related to a malicious program that can properly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin. It makes your personal computer pretty much unusable due to high CPU use.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review
It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!
When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.
Gridinsoft Anti-Malware 6-day trial available.
EULA | Privacy Policy | 10% Off Coupon
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to be the first to know about news and our exclusive materials on information security.

What is P.exe process?

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

As I have pointed out before, P.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be different, but the impacts are generally the identical. Considering that coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware capacity of your desktop to perform this process. This virus doesn’t pay attention to the fact that you may need to make use of your PC for other tasks – it will always take over 80% of your processor power.

P.exe Windows Process

P.exe – Very high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so P.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often can cause sad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong desktop is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who make profit via P.exe coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.1

List of the typical P.exe 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 P.exe miner?

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

    First, P.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.

    P.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name P.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Window.defener, Xbloxcrusher.exe, 667.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic P.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary negative activity coin miners perform to your system. P.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malevolent functions successfully, it ruins the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new notes – they are added by P.exe coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the original in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, performing at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your machine and increase electricity costs. PC components are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Small and well-protected processor cooling system is hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by P.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failur2. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable case when {your GPU’s performance|the performance of your graphic card decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get P.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 malevolent programs among “severe” viruses. Adware sometimes acts as a carrier for P.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that around 30% of all viruses spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and P.exe is just one of them.3

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    Another way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not need 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 application and receive a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK 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 sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the P.exe miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of P.exe virus is to use anti-malware software

    Eliminating such a virus requires the use of specific app. Effective anti-malware program should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak computers. Additionally, it is recommended to have on-run protection in your protection solution – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for different factors. That’s why I ‘d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits each of the mentioned qualities.4

    Before the virus removal, it is important to reboot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since P.exe miner takes a lot of processor power, 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.

    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 started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of P.exe miner process.

    Remove P.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 trial license

    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 P.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: P.exe

    Description: The P.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This P.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

    Sending
    User Review
    3.8 (5 votes)
    Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)

    References

    1. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    2. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    3. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    4. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

    Spanish Turkish

    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.

    Leave a Reply

    Sending