Smartaudio3.exe process is related to a malicious program that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much nonfunctional because of high CPU usage.
What is Smartaudio3.exe process?
Smartaudio3.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified earlier, Smartaudio3.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the executive file can be diverse, but the effects are almost always the same. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware capacity of your PC to perform this procedure. This malware does not take note of the fact that you probably need to make use of your machine for other activities – it will always take over 80% of your CPU power.
Smartaudio3.exe – Really high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Smartaudio3.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes may lead to sad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining means the action 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 needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. 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 Smartaudio3.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Smartaudio3.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow performance. Pages can open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that works online.
Smartaudio3.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Smartaudio3.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Leading.exe, Rtkauduservice64.exe, Vkise.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Smartaudio3.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single bad activity coin miners perform to your PC. Smartaudio3.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malevolent operations properly, it ruins the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, performing at peak power for long times may cause damage to your machine and raise power expenses. 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 fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Smartaudio3.exe virus can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also tend to have fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is likely an unwanted case when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Smartaudio3.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 malevolent programs among “serious” viruses. Adware sometimes serves as a carrier for Smartaudio3.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that around 30% of all viruses spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Smartaudio3.exe is right one of them.
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 unreliable web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Therefore, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for each setup. Before blaming these individuals for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Smartaudio3.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 requires making use of special tool. Effective antivirus should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage also on weak PCs. Additionally, it is recommended to have on-run protection in your security tool – to prevent the virus even before it starts. 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 reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits each of the specified characteristics.4
Before the virus removal, it is important to reboot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Smartaudio3.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is required 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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Smartaudio3.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 Smartaudio3.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Smartaudio3.exe
Description: The Smartaudio3.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Smartaudio3.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.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
