Sbr.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Sbr.exe is an executable exe file which belongs to the Shutdown blocker process which comes along with the AVAST. But in some cases sbr.exe process comes from a harmful program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much unfunctional due to high CPU utilization.

What is Sbr.exe process?

Sbr.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Sbr.exe Windows Process

Sbr.exe – Very high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Sbr.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may lead to unhappy consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Extremely bad performance
  • CPU/GPU cooler fan creates a lot of noise
  • High temperature of the device (for laptops)
  • 80-90% consumption of CPU/GPU resources by an unknown process
  • Microsoft Defender is not working
  • How dangerous is the Sbr.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, Sbr.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.

    Sbr.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Sbr.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Flow.exe, Auepuf.exe, Cefsharp.browsersubprocess
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Sbr.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary negative activity coin miners do to your computer. Sbr.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malevolent functions effectively, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be gone back to the original in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for long times may cause damage to your device and increase power expenses. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered CPU fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while spinning, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Sbr.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad case 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 Sbr.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the unreliable web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. For this reason, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK 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 as well as new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Sbr.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.

    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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security engineer focused on malware behavior, removal workflows, and Windows hardening. Robert reviews threat articles for practical accuracy, checking detection names, symptoms, and cleanup steps before publication.

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