Spiwow64.exe process comes from a malicious application that can properly be recognized as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much unusable due to high CPU usage.
What is Spiwow64.exe process?
Spiwow64.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Spiwow64.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Spiwow64.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It often can cause bad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Spiwow64.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Spiwow64.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Spiwow64.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Spiwow64.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | 4.exe, Charmap.exe, Dellsupportassistremedationservice.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Spiwow64.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary negative thing coin miners perform to your personal computer. Spiwow64.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To perform all malevolent functions correctly, it wrecks the protection features 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 entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, running at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine as well as increase power expenses. PC components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected CPU cooling system is hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for instance, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Spiwow64.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also tend to have fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Spiwow64.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
Another way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Hence, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each installation. Prior to blaming these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Spiwow64.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 programs, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer 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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