Prime.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

The Prime.exe executable file is linked to a malicious program commonly referred to as a coin miner trojan. This form of malware exploits your computer’s hardware resources to mine cryptocurrencies, with a focus on currencies such as Monero or DarkCoin¹. Consequently, your system’s performance suffers significantly due to the excessive CPU usage caused by this activity.

What is Prime.exe process?

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

As previously mentioned, Prime.exe is classified as a coin miner virus. While the names of the specific executable files may differ, their impact is typically consistent. Coin miners prioritize cryptocurrency mining and exploit all accessible hardware resources of your PC for this objective. This virus disregards any concurrent tasks you may need to perform on your system, persistently consuming over 80% of your CPU power.

Prime.exe – Really high CPU/GPU usage

In addition to CPU consumption, certain coin miners also exploit GPU power. In such instances, you may encounter difficulties even while attempting to move the mouse cursor, as the GPU is typically utilized at 100%. While GPU usage is not as critical for general system operations, Prime.exe coin miner viruses show no compromise and strive to maximize its usage. This can result in undesired consequences and further hinder system performance.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

Microsoft Defender is stopped;

CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start

Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise

A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power

How dangerous is the Prime.exe miner?

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

Firstly, Prime.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally slow performance. Pages can open up for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.

Prime.exe Technical Summary.

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

“Visible” damage is not a solitary bad activity coin miners do to your system. Prime.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious operations correctly, it wrecks the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are brought in by this 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 PC recovery.

Hardware effects of coin miner activity

Besides decreasing your system’s performance, running at peak power for a long period of time can cause damage to your machine as well as increase electricity costs. Hardware elements are created 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 cooling system is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for instance, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Prime.exe can easily lead to GPU failure³. Graphic cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely a bad case when the performance of your video card plunges 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

How did I get Prime.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 thing on your PC is by downloading it from the untrustworthy site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. Hence, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every setup. Before blaming these guys 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 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software and new parts for your computer.

How to remove the Prime.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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, along with the majority of non-crucial system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.