Poobserver.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey

Poobserver.exe process belongs to a harmful application that can properly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin[efn_note]Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.[/efn_note]. It makes your system pretty much unusable due to high CPU utilization.

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What is Poobserver.exe process?

Poobserver.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

As I have actually pointed out in the previous paragraph, Poobserver.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, but the impacts are almost always the same. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your PC to perform this process. This malware doesn’t care about the fact that you probably need to use your desktop for other tasks – it will constantly consume over 80% of your processor power.

Poobserver.exe Windows Process

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

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Poobserver.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes may lead to unhappy consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very strong desktop is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.

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 Poobserver.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, Poobserver.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, as all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your needs, 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 experience extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.

    Poobserver.exe Technical Summary.

    File NamePoobserver.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorNetsys64.exe, Onlinefix64.dll, Loupetool.virus/
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Poobserver.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary bad activity coin miners perform to your personal computer. Poobserver.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malevolent operations correctly, it ruins 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 ton of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, running at peak power for a long period of time can cause damage to your device and increase electricity bills. PC elements 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 processor fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Poobserver.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted case when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Poobserver.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 common malicious programs among “major” viruses. Adware frequently serves as a carrier for Poobserver.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Poobserver.exe is right one of them.

    Unwanted banners adware

    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 untrustworthy website as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Poobserver.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 requires using specific app. Effective antivirus should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage even on weak computers. In addition, it is recommended to have on-run protection in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for different reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal option that fits each of the discussed qualities.[efn_note]Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.[/efn_note]

    Prior to the virus removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Poobserver.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU power, it is required to halt 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.

    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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, along with the majority of non-critical Windows 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 Poobserver.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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning for Poobserver.exe

    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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan Poobserver.exe process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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