Screencapture.exe executable file comes from a malevolent application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unusable as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Screencapture.exe process?
Screencapture.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified in the previous paragraph, Screencapture.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file can be different, but the effects are almost always the same. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your desktop to run this operation. This malware does not take note of the fact that you may want to make use of your system for other activities – it will continuously consume over 80% of your processor power.
Screencapture.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Screencapture.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can lead to bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a strong PC is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters 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 Screencapture.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Screencapture.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, because all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.
Screencapture.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Screencapture.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Setup.rar, Es4.runtask, Videos.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Screencapture.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary bad thing coin miners do to your PC. Screencapture.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To conduct all malevolent functions properly, it ruins the protection components 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 ton of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your system’s performance, running at peak power for long times can trigger damage to your machine and increase power bills. PC components are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected processor fan is hard to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for instance, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Screencapture.exe can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted 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 Screencapture.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 malevolent programs through “major” malware. Adware sometimes acts as a carrier for Screencapture.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Screencapture.exe is right one of them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy website as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Hence, there is a huge lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Screencapture.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 demands using special app. Appropriate anti-malware program should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak computers. Furthermore, it is better to have on-run protection in your protection tool – to prevent the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for different reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great option that fits all of the specified features.5
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Screencapture.exe miner takes a lot of processor capacity, it is needed to halt 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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, just like the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Screencapture.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 Screencapture.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Screencapture.exe
Description: The Screencapture.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Screencapture.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.
