Paint.exe executable file is related to a malicious application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unusable due to high CPU use.
What is Paint.exe process?
Paint.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Paint.exe – Really high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Paint.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often may cause unhappy consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Paint.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, Paint.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your needs, 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 incredibly sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who works online.
Paint.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Paint.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Dism.exe, Pdfpower.exe, Buzz.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Paint.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Paint.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malevolent functions successfully, it wrecks the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your device and increase electricity expenses. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Little and well-protected processor cooling system is hard to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Paint.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely a bad case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Paint.exe coin miner virus?
Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
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 unreliable website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for each setup. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Paint.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.
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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, just like 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.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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