Pc.exe process belongs to a malevolent application that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much nonfunctional due to high CPU use.
What is Pc.exe process?
Pc.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually pointed out in the introduction, Pc.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be different, however, the impacts are almost always the same. Considering that coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your PC to conduct this procedure. This malware does not pay attention to the fact that you probably need to make use of your system for other tasks – it will constantly use over 80% of your processor power.
Pc.exe – Really high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will likely 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 Pc.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can cause bad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong PC is needed. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” 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 Pc.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Pc.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Pc.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Pc.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Dxcap.exe, Remezttf.exe, Zhemdo_build.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Pc.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your personal computer. Pc.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malevolent operations properly, it ruins the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be reverted to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for a long period of time can cause damage to your machine and increase power expenses. PC components 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.
Small and well-protected processor fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Pc.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Pc.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 common malicious programs through “major” malware. Adware frequently works as a carrier for Pc.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Pc.exe is just one of them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the unreliable site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. For this reason, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Pc.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 demands the use of special software. Appropriate antivirus should have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage even on weak computers. Furthermore, it is recommended to have proactive security in your protection tool – to prevent the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for various 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 all of the specified features.5
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to reboot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Pc.exe miner takes a lot of processor 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.
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 programs, just like the majority of non-crucial system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Pc.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 Pc.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Pc.exe
Description: The Pc.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Pc.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.
