Pyh.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Pyh.exe process is related to a malicious application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unfunctional because of high CPU usage.
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What is Pyh.exe process?

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

As I have actually mentioned before, Pyh.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, however, the effects are usually the identical. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your PC to conduct this operation. This malware does not care about the fact that you probably need to use your system for other tasks – it will always take over 80% of your CPU power.

Pyh.exe Windows Process

Pyh.exe – Really high CPU/GPU use

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Pyh.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may result in sad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral 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. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who gain money 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

  • 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 Pyh.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, Pyh.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, 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 performance. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.

    Pyh.exe Technical Summary.

    File NamePyh.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorOsdmnuu.exe, Npe.exe, Wndows.driver
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Pyh.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a single bad activity coin miners do to your PC. Pyh.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malicious operations correctly, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the original in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your computer, running at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your device and increase electricity costs. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered processor fan is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for example, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Pyh.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when the performance of your video card plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Pyh.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 prevalent malicious programs through “severe” malware. Adware often functions as a carrier for Pyh.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Pyh.exe is just one of them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    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 untrustworthy web page as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for every setup. Before criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying 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 as well as new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Pyh.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 the use of special software. Proper antivirus must have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak computers. In addition, it is recommended to have proactive security in your protection tool – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for different reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits all of the specified characteristics.5

    Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Pyh.exe miner consumes 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.

    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 software, just like the majority of non-crucial 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 Pyh.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 Pyh.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Pyh.exe

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