Second.exe process is related to a malicious application that can accurately be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly unusable as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Second.exe process?
Second.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Second.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Second.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can cause bad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Second.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Second.exe malware makes your system 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 generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally slow performance. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that works online.
Second.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Second.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Gpagent.exe, Windowsdefender.exe, Fish.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Second.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners do to your personal computer. Second.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malicious operations properly, it ruins the security components 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 ton of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, performing at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine as well as raise power costs. Hardware elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered processor fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for example, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Second.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Second.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
Another way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the untrustworthy website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Second.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, just like the majority of non-crucial system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer 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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