Protecta.exe process comes from a malicious application that can properly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware form uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost nonfunctional due to high CPU use.
What is Protecta.exe process?
Protecta.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have mentioned in the previous paragraph, Protecta.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file can be diverse, but the effects are usually the identical. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware power of your desktop to perform this process. This malware does not care about the fact that you may want to use your device for other tasks – it will always take over 80% of your CPU power.
Protecta.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Protecta.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes can cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful machine is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of dozens of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” 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 Protecta.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Protecta.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, as all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, 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 struggle with extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.
Protecta.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Protecta.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Dxsetup.exe, Fallout76.exe, Minerafacil.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Protecta.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary negative activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Protecta.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malevolent operations correctly, it ruins the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your device as well as increase electricity bills. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected processor fan is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Protecta.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Protecta.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 malevolent programs among “major” malware. Adware often acts as a carrier for Protecta.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Protecta.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 thing on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for each installation. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Protecta.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Eliminating such a virus requires making use of special software. Proper antivirus should have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization even on weak PCs. Furthermore, it is recommended to have on-run security in your protection tool – to prevent the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for various reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal choice that fits all of the mentioned features.5
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Protecta.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU 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 apps, along with the majority of non-crucial system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Protecta.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 Protecta.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Protecta.exe
Description: The Protecta.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Protecta.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.
