Reg_w8.exe process comes from a malicious application that can properly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly nonfunctional because of high CPU utilization.
What is Reg_w8.exe process?
Reg_w8.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Reg_w8.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Reg_w8.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can lead to unhappy results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Reg_w8.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Reg_w8.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.
Reg_w8.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Reg_w8.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Officeclicktorun.exe, Gtavmod.exe, Dog.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Reg_w8.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Reg_w8.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malevolent functions 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 ton of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your device and raise power costs. PC elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected CPU cooling system is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while working, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Reg_w8.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also prone to have very fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Reg_w8.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
Another way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Hence, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for each setup. Before criticizing these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Reg_w8.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 system 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 PC without dealing with high CPU 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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