Perfmon.exe executable file is related to a harmful application that can properly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unusable due to high CPU utilization.
What is Perfmon.exe process?
Perfmon.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have mentioned previously, Perfmon.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file can be different, but the consequences are usually the same. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your PC to run this procedure. This malware does not take note of the fact that you may want to make use of your computer for other activities – it will continuously use over 80% of your CPU power.
Perfmon.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Perfmon.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes can result in sad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation 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 are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” 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
How dangerous is the Perfmon.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, Perfmon.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely slow performance. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.
Perfmon.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Perfmon.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Nvsphelper64.exe, Nvwmi64.exe, Iumsvc.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Perfmon.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners do to your computer. Perfmon.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malicious operations successfully, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, running at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine as well as increase electricity expenses. PC components are created 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 processor cooling system is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Perfmon.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad situation when the performance of your graphic card decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Perfmon.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 among “major” viruses. Adware often acts as a carrier for Perfmon.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that around 30% of all malware spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Perfmon.exe is right 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 computer is by downloading it from the suspicious website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each setup. Before criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Perfmon.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Removing such a virus demands the use of specific program. Proper antivirus should have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak computers. Furthermore, it is better to have on-run security in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for various reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits each of the specified features.5
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Perfmon.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is needed 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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-crucial 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.
Remove Perfmon.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 Perfmon.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Perfmon.exe
Description: The Perfmon.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Perfmon.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.
