Tahoo.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Tahoo.exe process comes from a harmful application that can properly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost nonfunctional because of high CPU utilization.
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What is Tahoo.exe process?

Tahoo.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

As I have specified earlier, Tahoo.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file may be different, but the impacts are usually the same. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your personal computer to perform this process. This virus does not pay attention to the fact that you probably need to make use of your computer for other tasks – it will consistently use over 80% of your processor power.

Tahoo.exe Windows Process

Tahoo.exe – Very high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Tahoo.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes can result in unhappy effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining term means the operation 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 high-end PC is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who make profit 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

  • Your device overheats (system unit/laptop body is very hot)
  • You are not able to open your apps or they are opening for ages
  • Unknown process is running in the background and consumes your PC resources
  • Windows Defender does not respond
  • How dangerous is the Tahoo.exe miner?

    Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

    First, Tahoo.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.

    Tahoo.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Tahoo.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Cash.exe, Cash.exe, Spepopud.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Tahoo.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary negative activity coin miners do to your system. Tahoo.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malicious operations effectively, it wrecks the security 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 number of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be thrown back to the original in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine and raise power bills. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Little and well-protected CPU fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while spinning, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Tahoo.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Tahoo.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 prevalent malevolent programs through “serious” malware. Adware frequently serves as a carrier for Tahoo.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Tahoo.exe is just one of them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Therefore, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for each installation. Prior to blaming these guys 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 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Tahoo.exe miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software

    Removing such a virus needs using special tool. Proper security tool must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak systems. In addition, it is recommended to have on-run security in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for various reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal choice that fits all of the specified characteristics.5

    Prior to the virus removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Tahoo.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, 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.

    Boot into Windows Safe Mode

    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.

    windows safe mode boot option with command prompt

    When your computer 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 gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Tahoo.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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Tahoo.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Tahoo.exe

    Description: The Tahoo.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Tahoo.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

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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