Routes.exe process is related to a malevolent program that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unfunctional because of high CPU usage.
What is Routes.exe process?
Routes.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Routes.exe – Really high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Routes.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can lead to bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Routes.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Routes.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, since all processor power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.
Routes.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Routes.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Vhyfd.exe, Culdwnf.exe, Winsys.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Routes.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single bad activity coin miners perform to your PC. Routes.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malicious operations correctly, it wrecks the security mechanisms 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 brought in by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your PC slow, running at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your device and raise power bills. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Little and covered processor cooling system is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Routes.exe malware can easily lead to GPU failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable case when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Routes.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 untrustworthy site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Routes.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 programs, 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.
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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