Profile.exe process belongs to a malicious program that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unusable as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Profile.exe process?
Profile.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified earlier, Profile.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file can be different, but the effects are generally the same. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware power of your desktop to run this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you may want to make use of your desktop for other activities – it will always take over 80% of your processor power.
Profile.exe – Very high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Profile.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often can cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a high-end machine is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Profile.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, Profile.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, as all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow performance. Pages can open for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Profile.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Profile.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Osdmnuu.exe, Npe.exe, Wndows.driver |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Profile.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your system. Profile.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To conduct all malicious functions properly, it wrecks 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 ton of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, performing at peak power for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine and increase power bills. PC elements are created 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 fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Profile.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely 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 Profile.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 the most common malicious programs through “serious” viruses. Adware frequently functions as a carrier for Profile.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Profile.exe is right among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious site as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every installation. Before blaming these guys for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing 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 as well as new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Profile.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 involves the use of special software. Appropriate security tool should have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak systems. Furthermore, it is better to have on-run security in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for various factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great choice that fits all of the discussed characteristics.5
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Profile.exe miner consumes a lot of processor capacity, it is needed to stop 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.
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 software, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Profile.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.
After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.
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.
Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.
Remove Profile.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Profile.exe
Description: The Profile.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Profile.exe will create your CPU to go for very warm temperatures for prolonged periods of time, which could reduce the life of the CPU.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Trojan
User Review
( votes)References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
- Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
