Qaagent.exe process is related to a malevolent application that can properly be recognized as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost nonfunctional due to high CPU utilization.
What is Qaagent.exe process?
Qaagent.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Qaagent.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their tasks. 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 Qaagent.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes may cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Qaagent.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Qaagent.exe virus makes your computer 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 wants, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.
Qaagent.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Qaagent.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Qaadminagent.exe, Psadminagent.exe, Gamingservicesnet.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Qaagent.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary bad thing coin miners perform to your PC. Qaagent.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To perform all malevolent operations successfully, it ruins the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, performing at peak level for a long period of time may cause damage to your machine as well as increase electricity expenses. Hardware components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected processor fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Qaagent.exe can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable case when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Qaagent.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
An additional way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? 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 desktop.
How to remove the Qaagent.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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-critical Windows 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.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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