Sword2.exe process is related to a malevolent application that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost unfunctional because of high CPU use.
What is Sword2.exe process?
Sword2.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Sword2.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Sword2.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often may cause bad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Sword2.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Sword2.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all processor power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, 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 slow performance. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Sword2.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Sword2.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | 8.exe, Exe.virus, Gui.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Sword2.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners do to your system. Sword2.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To execute all malicious operations successfully, it ruins the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be reverted to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak power for long times may trigger damage to your device as well as raise electricity costs. Hardware elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected processor cooling system is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Sword2.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Sword2.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
An additional way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the unreliable website 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. Therefore, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for every setup. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software and new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Sword2.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high processor 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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