Pandhcpdns.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Pandhcpdns.exe process belongs to a malicious application that can accurately be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware form uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unusable as a result of high CPU usage.
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What is Pandhcpdns.exe process?

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

As I have specified earlier, Pandhcpdns.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file may be diverse, however, the consequences are almost always the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your personal computer to conduct this process. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you may need to make use of your device for other tasks – it will continuously use over 80% of your processor power.

Pandhcpdns.exe Windows Process

Pandhcpdns.exe – Really high CPU/GPU use

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Pandhcpdns.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may result in unhappy consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a high-end machine is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2

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 Pandhcpdns.exe miner?

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

    First, Pandhcpdns.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, as all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.

    Pandhcpdns.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your computer. Pandhcpdns.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To perform all malicious operations successfully, it wrecks the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are added by this coin 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 computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your machine as well as increase power costs. PC elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Little and well-protected CPU cooling system is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Pandhcpdns.exe can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when the performance of your graphic card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Pandhcpdns.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 the most widespread malicious programs through “major” malware. Adware often functions as a carrier for Pandhcpdns.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that about 30% of all viruses spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Pandhcpdns.exe is just one of them.4

    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 dubious web page as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Therefore, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these guys 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 greater figure for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Pandhcpdns.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 involves making use of special tool. Proper security tool must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak computers. Furthermore, it is better to have proactive protection in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for various factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great option that fits all of the mentioned features.5

    Before the virus removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Pandhcpdns.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is required to stop 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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, along with the majority of non-crucial system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Pandhcpdns.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 free trial

    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 Pandhcpdns.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Pandhcpdns.exe

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

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    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.

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