Psadminagent.exe executable file is related to a malicious application that can properly be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost unfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Psadminagent.exe process?
Psadminagent.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually pointed out earlier, Psadminagent.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, but the effects are usually the identical. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware power of your PC to run this procedure. This virus does not pay attention to the fact that you may want to use your machine for other tasks – it will always consume over 80% of your processor power.
Psadminagent.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Psadminagent.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may cause unhappy results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very 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 video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “classic” 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 Psadminagent.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First of all, Psadminagent.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Psadminagent.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Psadminagent.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Gamingservicesnet.exe, Msiexec.exe, Wavessyssvc64.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Psadminagent.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your PC. Psadminagent.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To perform all malevolent functions effectively, it ruins the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak power for a long period of time can cause damage to your device and raise electricity costs. Hardware components are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and covered CPU fan is hard to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Psadminagent.exe can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Psadminagent.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 malevolent programs among “severe” malware. Adware frequently serves as a carrier for Psadminagent.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that about 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Psadminagent.exe is right among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and also malware spreading, 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 bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Psadminagent.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 demands making use of special software. Effective security tool should have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak PCs. In addition, it is recommended to have proactive 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 all of the mentioned features.5
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Psadminagent.exe miner takes a lot of CPU power, it is required 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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-critical system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Psadminagent.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 Psadminagent.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Psadminagent.exe
Description: The Psadminagent.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Psadminagent.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
( vote)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.
