Snippingtool.exe process is related to a malicious application that can correctly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly unfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Snippingtool.exe process?
Snippingtool.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Snippingtool.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Snippingtool.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes can result in unhappy results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Snippingtool.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Snippingtool.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 needs, 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 incredibly sluggish performance. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Snippingtool.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Snippingtool.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Tieringengineservice.exe, Srbminer.virus/, Bzminer.virus/ |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Snippingtool.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Snippingtool.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malevolent functions correctly, it wrecks the protection 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 ton of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak power for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine and increase power expenses. Hardware elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected CPU fan is quite hard to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Snippingtool.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Snippingtool.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 computer is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for each setup. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Snippingtool.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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system 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.
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