Startmenuexperiencehost.exe process belongs to a harmful application that can properly be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost nonfunctional as a result of high CPU use.
What is Startmenuexperiencehost.exe process?
Startmenuexperiencehost.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out previously, Startmenuexperiencehost.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, but the consequences are usually the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware capacity of your PC to perform this procedure. This virus doesn’t take note of the fact that you may need to make use of your PC for other activities – it will always use over 80% of your processor power.
Startmenuexperiencehost.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as processor for system work, so Startmenuexperiencehost.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can cause bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful computer is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of dozens of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Startmenuexperiencehost.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Startmenuexperiencehost.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used 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 browser is open, you will likely struggle with incredibly slow efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.
Startmenuexperiencehost.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Startmenuexperiencehost.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Rsenginesvc.exe, Eclient.exe, Fly.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Startmenuexperiencehost.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary bad activity coin miners perform to your personal computer. Startmenuexperiencehost.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To complete all malevolent operations effectively, it ruins the security features 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 lot of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted 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 as well as increase power costs. Hardware components are designed 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 not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for example, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Startmenuexperiencehost.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable case when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Startmenuexperiencehost.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 common malicious programs through “serious” malware. Adware frequently acts as a carrier for Startmenuexperiencehost.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that around 30% of all malware spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Startmenuexperiencehost.exe is right with them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. Therefore, 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 people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for the program in such a way? 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 computer.
How to remove the Startmenuexperiencehost.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 using special software. Proper anti-malware program must have high performance at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak systems. On top of that, it is better to have on-run security in your security solution – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for different reasons. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits all of the specified features.5
Before the virus removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Startmenuexperiencehost.exe miner takes a lot of processor power, it is needed 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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Startmenuexperiencehost.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 Startmenuexperiencehost.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Startmenuexperiencehost.exe
Description: The Startmenuexperiencehost.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Startmenuexperiencehost.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.
