Pokumi.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Pokumi.exe executable file comes from a malevolent application that can correctly be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unfunctional because of high CPU utilization.

What is Pokumi.exe process?

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

pokumi.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU use

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as vital as the CPU for system work, so pokumi.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often may cause unhappy results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Extremely bad performance
  • CPU/GPU cooler fan creates a lot of noise
  • High temperature of the device (for laptops)
  • 80-90% consumption of CPU/GPU resources by an unknown process
  • Microsoft Defender is not working
  • How dangerous is the pokumi.exe miner?

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

    Initially, pokumi.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now because all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is generating income for you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of login will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.

    Pokumi.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary bad thing coin miners do to your PC. pokumi.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malicious operations properly, it ruins the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your PC slow, running at peak power for long times can cause damage to your machine as well as increase electricity costs. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Little and well-protected CPU cooling system is quite hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by pokumi.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely a bad case when the performance of your video card plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get pokumi.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

    An additional way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have a small chance to earn money. Thus, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for an antivirus program and new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the pokumi.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 programs, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system 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.

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    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.

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