Shadowprocessator.exe executable file comes from a malicious program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly nonfunctional as a result of high CPU use.
What is Shadowprocessator.exe process?
Shadowprocessator.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified in the introduction, Shadowprocessator.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file may be different, however, the effects are usually the identical. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware power of your PC to run this process. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you probably need to make use of your computer for other tasks – it will always consume over 80% of your processor power.
Shadowprocessator.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Shadowprocessator.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes may lead to unhappy consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very strong PC is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Shadowprocessator.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, Shadowprocessator.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is used by a virus. 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 browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.
Shadowprocessator.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Shadowprocessator.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Autodengi.exe, Cloud.exe, Upsilon.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Shadowprocessator.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Shadowprocessator.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malicious operations properly, it ruins the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan 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 PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, performing at peak power for a long period of time can trigger damage to your device as well as raise power costs. Hardware elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered CPU cooling system is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for example, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Shadowprocessator.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have increased wearing when used for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable case when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Shadowprocessator.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 the most widespread malicious programs through “severe” malware. Adware sometimes serves as a carrier for Shadowprocessator.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that approximately 30% of all malware spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Shadowprocessator.exe is right with 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 suspicious site as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every installation. Before criticizing these individuals 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 greater sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Shadowprocessator.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 demands the use of specific software. Effective security tool must have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak systems. In addition, it is better to have proactive security in your protection solution – to prevent the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for different reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits each of the discussed characteristics.5
Before the virus removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Shadowprocessator.exe miner takes a lot of CPU power, 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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, just like the majority of non-crucial system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Shadowprocessator.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 Shadowprocessator.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Shadowprocessator.exe
Description: The Shadowprocessator.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Shadowprocessator.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.
