Slitherio.exe process belongs to a harmful program that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly unusable as a result of high CPU use.
What is Slitherio.exe process?
Slitherio.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified in the previous paragraph, Slitherio.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the effects are generally the identical. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware power of your desktop to run this operation. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you probably need to use your system for other activities – it will consistently consume over 80% of your CPU power.
Slitherio.exe – Really high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Slitherio.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong desktop is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Slitherio.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, Slitherio.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all processor power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely sluggish performance. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.
Slitherio.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Slitherio.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Sbr.exe, Flow.exe, Auepuf.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Slitherio.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners do to your PC. Slitherio.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malevolent functions properly, it ruins the security components 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 entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak level for long times can trigger damage to your machine and increase electricity bills. PC elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered processor cooling system is hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Slitherio.exe virus can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Slitherio.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 malicious programs among “severe” viruses. Adware often works as a carrier for Slitherio.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that around 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Slitherio.exe is just one of them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy website as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not require 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 app and receive a coin for each setup. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Slitherio.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 involves the use of special program. Appropriate anti-malware program should have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak systems. Furthermore, it is better to have proactive security in your security solution – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for various 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
Prior to the malware removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Slitherio.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU 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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-critical Windows 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 Slitherio.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 Slitherio.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Slitherio.exe
Description: The Slitherio.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Slitherio.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.
