Shtime.exe process belongs to a malicious program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unusable as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Shtime.exe process?
Shtime.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified previously, Shtime.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, however, the consequences are almost always the identical. Considering that coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your personal computer to perform this process. This virus does not pay attention to the fact that you may need to use your desktop for other activities – it will consistently consume over 80% of your processor power.
Shtime.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use 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 important as processor for system work, so Shtime.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can cause unhappy consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that means the operation 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 video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who gain money 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 Shtime.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First off, Shtime.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, 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 experience exceptionally slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Shtime.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Shtime.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Png_inst.exe, Utilman.exe, Unic.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Shtime.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Shtime.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malicious operations properly, it ruins the security features 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 brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, performing at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your machine and raise power bills. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Little and covered CPU cooling system is hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while working, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Shtime.exe can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when used for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Shtime.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 prevalent malicious programs among “major” malware. Adware often works as a carrier for Shtime.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that around 30% of all viruses spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Shtime.exe is just among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the unreliable web page as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to blaming these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Shtime.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Removing such a virus needs making use of specific app. Proper security tool should have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak computers. In addition, it is recommended to have proactive protection in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for various factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great choice that fits each of the discussed qualities.5
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Shtime.exe miner consumes a lot of processor capacity, 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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Shtime.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 Shtime.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Shtime.exe
Description: The Shtime.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Shtime.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.
