Pdfmagic.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Pdfmagic.exe executable file comes from a malevolent program that can accurately be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly nonfunctional due to high CPU usage.
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 | GridinSoft

@topcybersecuritySubscribe to our Telegram channel to be the first to know about news and our exclusive materials on information security.

What is Pdfmagic.exe process?

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

As I have actually specified previously, Pdfmagic.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the executive file may be diverse, but the impacts are generally the identical. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your PC to perform this process. This malware does not pay attention to the fact that you may need to make use of your system for other tasks – it will constantly consume over 80% of your CPU power.

Pdfmagic.exe Windows Process

Pdfmagic.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use

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

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the operation 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 very strong PC is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who make profit 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

  • Your device overheats (system unit/laptop body is very hot)
  • You are not able to open your apps or they are opening for ages
  • Unknown process is running in the background and consumes your PC resources
  • Windows Defender does not respond
  • How dangerous is the Pdfmagic.exe miner?

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

    Firstly, Pdfmagic.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is not able 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 profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that does a job online.

    Pdfmagic.exe Technical Summary.

    File NamePdfmagic.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorFilecoauth.exe, Srtasks.exe, Prevhost.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Pdfmagic.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners perform to your system. Pdfmagic.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malevolent operations successfully, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the original in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak level for long times can cause damage to your device and increase power expenses. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and well-protected CPU cooling system is hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Pdfmagic.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Pdfmagic.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 prevalent malicious programs through “major” malware. Adware sometimes acts as a carrier for Pdfmagic.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that around 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Pdfmagic.exe is right among them.

    Unwanted banners adware

    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 suspicious web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a very big temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for every installation. Before criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Pdfmagic.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 needs making use of special software. Proper antivirus must have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak computers. Additionally, it is better to have on-run protection in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for different factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great option that fits all of the mentioned qualities.4

    Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Pdfmagic.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU power, it is needed 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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, just like the majority of non-crucial system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Pdfmagic.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 Pdfmagic.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Pdfmagic.exe

    Description: The Pdfmagic.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Pdfmagic.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
    3.6 (5 votes)
    Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)

    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. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

    Spanish Turkish

    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security Engineer. Interested in malware, reverse engineering, white ethical hacking. I like coding, travelling and bikes.

    Leave a Reply

    Sending

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.