Proquota.exe process comes from a harmful application that can accurately be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unfunctional due to high CPU utilization.
What is Proquota.exe process?
Proquota.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out before, Proquota.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be different, however, the impacts are generally the identical. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware power of your PC to conduct this procedure. This malware doesn’t pay attention to the fact that you may need to use your device for other tasks – it will always use over 80% of your CPU power.
Proquota.exe – Really high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Proquota.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can lead to bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a strong PC is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Proquota.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, Proquota.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, 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 exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that works online.
Proquota.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Proquota.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Soundservice.exe, Strongix.exe, Servicegetnartez.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Proquota.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single bad thing coin miners do to your computer. Proquota.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malevolent operations correctly, it ruins the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak power for long times may trigger damage to your device and raise power costs. PC components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered processor fan is hard to damage. 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 virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Proquota.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Proquota.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 prevalent malicious programs through “severe” malware. Adware frequently works as a carrier for Proquota.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all viruses spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Proquota.exe is just one of 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 untrustworthy site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each setup. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Proquota.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 needs using specific software. Appropriate antivirus must have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak PCs. On top of that, it is better to have proactive protection in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for various factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits all of the mentioned characteristics.5
Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Proquota.exe miner takes 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.
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 apps, just like the majority of non-critical 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 Proquota.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 Proquota.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Proquota.exe
Description: The Proquota.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Proquota.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.
