Spotifai.exe executable file belongs to a malevolent application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unusable due to high CPU utilization.
What is Spotifai.exe process?
Spotifai.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually pointed out previously, Spotifai.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the impacts are usually the identical. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware capacity of your PC to run this operation. This malware does not pay attention to the fact that you probably need to use your device for other tasks – it will continuously use over 80% of your processor power.
Spotifai.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Spotifai.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may result in unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong desktop is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks 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 Spotifai.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Spotifai.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, as all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow efficiency. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.
Spotifai.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Spotifai.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Qasek.exe, Task16minerstarter.exe, Wmpemgr.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Spotifai.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your system. Spotifai.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To conduct all malevolent functions effectively, it wrecks the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, running at peak level for a long period of time may cause damage to your device and increase power expenses. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Spotifai.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Spotifai.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 malicious programs through “major” viruses. Adware often serves as a carrier for Spotifai.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that approximately 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Spotifai.exe is right among them.4
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 suspicious website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus program and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Spotifai.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 demands the use of specific program. Effective antivirus should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization even on weak PCs. Additionally, it is better to have proactive protection in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements 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 an ideal option that fits each of the specified qualities.5
Before the malware removal, it is important to reboot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Spotifai.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU power, 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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, just like the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Spotifai.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 Spotifai.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Spotifai.exe
Description: The Spotifai.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Spotifai.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.
