Pnputil.exe executable file belongs to a harmful program that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin. It makes your personal computer pretty much nonfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Pnputil.exe process?
Pnputil.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Pnputil.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Pnputil.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may result in bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical Pnputil.exe coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Pnputil.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Pnputil.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who works online.
Pnputil.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Pnputil.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Loadus.exe, Loadus.exelator, Robocopy.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Pnputil.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single negative thing coin miners perform to your system. Pnputil.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To perform all malicious operations successfully, it ruins the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are brought in by Pnputil.exe coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be thrown back to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for long times may cause damage to your device as well as increase electricity bills. Hardware elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for example, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Pnputil.exe virus can easily lead to GPU failur2. Video cards are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable case when {your GPU’s performance|the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Pnputil.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
One more way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the unreliable web page as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper 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 Pnputil.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of Pnputil.exe 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 apps, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of Pnputil.exe miner process.
References
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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