Sas.exe executable file comes from a malevolent application that can correctly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Sas.exe process?
Sas.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually specified in the previous paragraph, Sas.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file may be different, however, the impacts are usually the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware capacity of your personal computer to perform this operation. This virus doesn’t pay attention to the fact that you probably need to use your PC for other activities – it will always take over 80% of your processor power.
Sas.exe – Very high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Sas.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes can result in bad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a strong machine is needed. 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 graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. 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
How dangerous is the Sas.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Sas.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all processor power is used by a virus. 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 web browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow performance. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.
Sas.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Sas.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Programinstaller.exe, Wdfaf.exe, Winservices.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Sas.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary bad thing coin miners do to your system. Sas.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious operations properly, it ruins the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back 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 may trigger damage to your device as well as raise power bills. PC components are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected processor fan is hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while working, for instance, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Sas.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Sas.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 widespread malevolent programs through “major” malware. Adware sometimes acts as a carrier for Sas.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that around 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Sas.exe is just with them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the untrustworthy site as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each installation. Before blaming these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus program and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Sas.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Getting rid of such a virus involves using specific program. Proper antivirus must have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage even on weak PCs. In addition, it is better to have on-run security in your protection solution – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits all of the mentioned features.5
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Sas.exe miner consumes a lot of processor power, it is needed 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 launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Sas.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 Sas.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Sas.exe
Description: The Sas.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Sas.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
( votes)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.
