Taobao.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Taobao.exe process comes from a harmful program that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much nonfunctional due to high CPU use.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review
It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!
When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.
Gridinsoft Anti-Malware 6-day trial available.
EULA | Privacy Policy | 10% Off Coupon
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to be the first to know about news and our exclusive materials on information security.

What is Taobao.exe process?

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

As I have actually pointed out before, Taobao.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the impacts are generally the identical. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your PC to perform this operation. This malware doesn’t care about the fact that you may need to make use of your device for other tasks – it will constantly consume over 80% of your processor power.

Taobao.exe Windows Process

Taobao.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU use

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Taobao.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can cause bad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a strong computer is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters 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

  • Microsoft Defender is stopped;
  • CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start
  • Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise
  • A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power
  • How dangerous is the Taobao.exe miner?

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

    First of all, Taobao.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, because all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.

    Taobao.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your PC. Taobao.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malevolent operations correctly, it wrecks the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the original in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, running at peak level for long times can cause damage to your machine and increase electricity costs. PC elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Little and covered CPU fan is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Taobao.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also prone to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable case when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Taobao.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 malevolent programs through “severe” malware. Adware sometimes serves as a carrier for Taobao.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Taobao.exe is right among them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    An additional way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. Therefore, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your computer.

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

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

    Eliminating such a virus involves making use of special software. Effective antivirus must have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization even on weak computers. Additionally, it is better to have proactive security in your security solution – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits each of the specified features.5

    Prior to the malware removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Taobao.exe miner takes a lot of processor 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.

    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 apps, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Taobao.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 Taobao.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Taobao.exe

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

    Sending
    User Review
    4 (6 votes)
    Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)

    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.

    Spanish Turkish

    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.

    Leave a Reply

    Sending