Programstarter.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Programstarter.exe executable file belongs to a malevolent application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin¹. It makes your personal computer almost unusable because of high CPU utilization.

What is Programstarter.exe process?

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

Programstarter.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU usage

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 usually utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Programstarter.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often may lead to unhappy effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

Your device overheats (system unit/laptop body is very hot)

You are not able to open your apps or they are opening for ages

Unknown process is running in the background and consumes your PC resources

Windows Defender does not respond

How dangerous is the Programstarter.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, Programstarter.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, 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 suffer from incredibly slow performance. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.

Programstarter.exe Technical Summary.

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

“Visible” harm is not a single bad thing coin miners do to your PC. Programstarter.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious functions successfully, it wrecks the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be thrown back to the original in the process of system recovery.

Hardware effects of coin miner activity

Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your device as well as raise power expenses. 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.

Tiny and covered processor cooling system is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Programstarter.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure³. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.

How did I get Programstarter.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 dubious web page as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.

How to remove the Programstarter.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, just like the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.