Tail.exe executable file belongs to a malevolent application that can properly be recognized as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unfunctional because of high CPU usage.
What is Tail.exe process?
Tail.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Tail.exe – Really high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Tail.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes may result in sad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Tail.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First off, Tail.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow performance. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.
Tail.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Tail.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | 1.exe, Eml.exe, V4_tool.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Tail.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant thing coin miners do to your personal computer. Tail.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To execute all malevolent operations properly, it wrecks the security mechanisms 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 ton of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak power for long times can trigger damage to your device and raise power expenses. PC components are created 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 covered processor cooling system is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for instance, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Tail.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Tail.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
One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious site as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need 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 app and get a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and malware distribution, 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 figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Tail.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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC 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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