Program.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Program.exe executable file comes from a harmful program that can properly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.
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What is Program.exe process?

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

As I have actually specified in the introduction, Program.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the executive file may be diverse, but the consequences are generally the identical. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware capacity of your desktop to perform this procedure. This virus does not care about the fact that you may need to make use of your device for other tasks – it will always use over 80% of your processor power.

Program.exe Windows Process

Program.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Program.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can cause bad consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful machine is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who gain money 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

  • 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 Program.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, Program.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.

    Program.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary negative thing coin miners do to your computer. Program.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malicious functions effectively, 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 thrown back to the original in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your machine and raise power expenses. PC components are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Little and covered CPU cooling system is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Program.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Program.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 widespread malevolent programs among “serious” malware. Adware frequently works as a carrier for Program.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which have 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 through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Program.exe is just with them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    Another way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not demand 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 application and receive a coin for every installation. Before blaming these guys for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Program.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 using special tool. Effective anti-malware program should have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization even on weak PCs. Additionally, it is better to have on-run security in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal choice that fits each of the specified characteristics.5

    Prior to the malware removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Program.exe miner takes a lot of processor power, it is needed 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 programs, along with the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Program.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 in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    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 process

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

    Remove Program.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Program.exe

    Description: The Program.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Program.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

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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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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