Schtasks.exe executable file comes from a harmful application that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much nonfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Schtasks.exe process?
Schtasks.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually mentioned before, Schtasks.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, but the effects are generally the identical. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your personal computer to conduct this procedure. This virus doesn’t care about the fact that you may need to use your PC for other activities – it will always consume over 80% of your CPU power.
Schtasks.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Schtasks.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may result in unhappy results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong PC is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “classic” 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 Schtasks.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Schtasks.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your needs, 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 suffer from extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.
Schtasks.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Schtasks.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Cmd.exe, Wirelesskb850notificationservice.exe, Skypeapp.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Schtasks.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Schtasks.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious functions properly, it wrecks the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you check 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 gone back to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, running at peak power for long times may cause damage to your machine as well as increase electricity bills. PC elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered processor fan is hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Schtasks.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely a bad case when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Schtasks.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 one of the most widespread malicious programs through “major” viruses. Adware sometimes works as a carrier for Schtasks.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that about 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Schtasks.exe is right among them.
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 suspicious web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for every setup. Before criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Schtasks.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Eliminating such a virus needs making use of special tool. Effective anti-malware program should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage even on weak computers. Furthermore, it is better to have proactive security in your security tool – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for various factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal option that fits each of the specified characteristics.4
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Schtasks.exe miner consumes a lot of processor power, it is required 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, along with the majority of non-critical Windows 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.
Remove Schtasks.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 Schtasks.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Schtasks.exe
Description: The Schtasks.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Schtasks.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.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
