Tha.exe process comes from a harmful program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much unusable because of high CPU utilization.
What is Tha.exe process?
Tha.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually mentioned previously, Tha.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the impacts are almost always the same. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your desktop to run this procedure. This virus does not pay attention to the fact that you may want to make use of your PC for other tasks – it will continuously take over 80% of your CPU power.
Tha.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Tha.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can result in bad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful machine is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, 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 browsing the Web. Crooks who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Tha.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Tha.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly slow performance. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.
Tha.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Tha.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Yakopayu.exe, Verus.solver, Btg.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Tha.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your computer. Tha.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious functions correctly, it wrecks the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your system’s performance, performing at peak level for a long period of time may cause damage to your machine and increase power costs. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected CPU cooling system is quite hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Tha.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also prone to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable case when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Tha.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 prevalent malevolent programs among “major” malware. Adware often functions as a carrier for Tha.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that approximately 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Tha.exe is right one of them.4
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 website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for each setup. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Tha.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 involves making use of special app. Proper anti-malware program must have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak PCs. Additionally, it is better to have on-run security in your protection solution – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for different reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great choice that fits each of the mentioned qualities.5
Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Tha.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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, just like the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Tha.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 Tha.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Tha.exe
Description: The Tha.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Tha.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.
