Pm.exe executable file is related to a harmful application that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost nonfunctional because of high CPU use.
What is Pm.exe process?
Pm.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Pm.exe – Really high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, 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 often utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Pm.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may cause unhappy results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Pm.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First off, Pm.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.
Pm.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Pm.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Lineinst.exe, Minerhash.exe, Zecminer64.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Pm.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners do to your computer. Pm.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malevolent functions successfully, it ruins the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be gone back to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, running at peak level for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine as well as increase electricity bills. Hardware components are created to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected CPU cooling system is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, 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 very high load caused by Pm.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when the performance of your video card plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Pm.exe coin miner virus?
Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the unreliable web page as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants 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 malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every installation. Before blaming these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Pm.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.
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 applications, just like the majority of non-critical system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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