Phoneexperiencehost.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Phoneexperiencehost.exe executable file is related to a harmful application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unfunctional because of high CPU usage.

What is Phoneexperiencehost.exe process?

Phoneexperiencehost.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Phoneexperiencehost.exe Windows Process

Phoneexperiencehost.exe – Really high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Phoneexperiencehost.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes can lead to unhappy consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

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 Phoneexperiencehost.exe miner?

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

    Firstly, Phoneexperiencehost.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, 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 efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.

    Phoneexperiencehost.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Phoneexperiencehost.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malicious functions effectively, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, running at peak level for a long period of time can cause damage to your machine and raise electricity bills. Hardware components are created to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Little and well-protected CPU cooling system is hard to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while working, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Phoneexperiencehost.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable case when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Phoneexperiencehost.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
    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 site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a very big lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every setup. Before blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Phoneexperiencehost.exe miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software

    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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, along with the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.

    Spanish Turkish

    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security engineer focused on malware behavior, removal workflows, and Windows hardening. Robert reviews threat articles for practical accuracy, checking detection names, symptoms, and cleanup steps before publication.

    Leave a Comment