Setup.exe executable file belongs to a harmful application that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost unusable as a result of high CPU use.
What is Setup.exe process?
Setup.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Setup.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Setup.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often may lead to bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Setup.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Setup.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Setup.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Setup.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Etcmk.exe, Bpm.exe, Cpu32.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Setup.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary negative activity coin miners perform to your PC. Setup.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious operations successfully, it wrecks 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 number of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your system’s performance, running at peak level for a long period of time can cause damage to your machine as well as increase power costs. PC elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and well-protected processor fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Setup.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Setup.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
One more way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the unreliable site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. For this reason, there is a very big lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Setup.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 software, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU 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.
Leave a Comment