Sonic.exe executable file belongs to a malevolent program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware form uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost nonfunctional due to high CPU utilization.
What is Sonic.exe process?
Sonic.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually mentioned previously, Sonic.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, however, the impacts are almost always the same. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your PC to run this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you may need to use your computer for other tasks – it will constantly use over 80% of your processor power.
Sonic.exe – Very high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Sonic.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes can cause unhappy results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful PC is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of dozens of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Sonic.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Sonic.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is consumed by a malware. 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 browser is open, you will likely suffer from incredibly sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Sonic.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Sonic.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Explorgu.exe, Atuctservice.virus/, Freezehungryutil.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Sonic.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary negative thing coin miners do to your system. Sonic.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malicious operations effectively, it ruins the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, running at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your machine and raise power costs. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected processor fan is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Sonic.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Sonic.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 common malevolent programs through “severe” malware. Adware often acts as a carrier for Sonic.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Sonic.exe is right with them.
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the unreliable web page as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. For this reason, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Sonic.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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, just like the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
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