Pathping.exe executable file is related to a harmful program that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much unfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Pathping.exe process?
Pathping.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually mentioned earlier, Pathping.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file can be different, however, the consequences are generally the identical. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware power of your personal computer to perform this process. This virus does not care about the fact that you may need to use your desktop for other activities – it will constantly take over 80% of your processor power.
Pathping.exe – Very high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Pathping.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can cause bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very strong desktop is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who gain money 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 Pathping.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, Pathping.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, since all processor power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on 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 performance. Pages can open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.
Pathping.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Pathping.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Dashost.exe, Espeongateway.exe, Microsoftaudio.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Pathping.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single bad activity coin miners perform to your PC. Pathping.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malevolent functions effectively, it ruins the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for long times can cause damage to your device as well as increase power expenses. PC elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and covered processor fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for example, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Pathping.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Pathping.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 among “serious” viruses. Adware frequently serves as a carrier for Pathping.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that approximately 30% of all viruses spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Pathping.exe is right among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Pathping.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Getting rid of such a virus requires making use of specific software. Effective anti-malware program should have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak systems. In addition, it is recommended to have on-run protection in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these elements for different reasons. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits each of the mentioned characteristics.5
Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Pathping.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, along with the majority of non-crucial system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Pathping.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 Pathping.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Pathping.exe
Description: The Pathping.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Pathping.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.
