Tone.exe executable file belongs to a harmful program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Tone.exe process?
Tone.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
The command “start /d “%APPDATA%\Tone” Tone.exe” is a Windows command that launches an executable program called “Tone.exe” located in the “%APPDATA%\Tone” directory.
The “/d” parameter specifies the directory in which the program should be started, and “%APPDATA%” is an environment variable that refers to the Application Data folder for the current user. The “%APPDATA%\Tone” directory is a custom directory created by the “Tone.exe” program for storing its configuration files or other data.
Overall, this command launches the “Tone.exe” program from the Application Data folder, and it is often used in batch files or scripts to automate certain tasks or run programs with specific settings.
As I have actually mentioned previously, Tone.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, however, the impacts are generally identical. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your PC to conduct this operation. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you may need to use your device for other tasks – it will always consume over 80% of your processor power.
Tone.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized at 100%. It is not as crucial as a processor for system work, so Tone.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can lead to bad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of anything based on blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong PC is needed. Exactly, the GPU is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who gain money via this coin miner use someone’s computers instead, even if they are used for regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Tone.exe miner?
Coin miners do not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Tone.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is consumed by malware. That malware does not care for your needs, all it pays attention to is generating profits for you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until the web browser is open, you will likely experience extremely slow performance. Pages can open for years, and any type of login will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who works online.
Tone.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Tone.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites, etc. |
| Similar behavior | Xs.exe, Searchfilter.exe, Ims.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Tone.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary negative activity coin miners do to your PC. Tone.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malevolent operations correctly, it wrecks the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your system’s performance, performing at peak power for a long period of time can trigger damage to your device as well as raise power expenses. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected processor fan is hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for example, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Tone.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get the Tone.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 malicious programs through “serious” viruses. Adware sometimes works as a carrier for Tone.exe malware injection: it demonstrates the banners, which include a link to malware downloads. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that around 30% of all viruses spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Tone.exe is just among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the untrustworthy website as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for every installation. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software as well as new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Tone.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 the use of a specific tool. The appropriate anti-malware program should have high performance at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization even on weak systems. On top of that, it is recommended to have on-run security in your security solution – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these elements for different reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits all of the discussed qualities.5
Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Tone.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU 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 programs, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with the high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Tone.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 the 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 normal Windows mode and use it just as if there was nothing malicious.
Remove Tone.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Tone.exe
Description: The Tone.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine cryptocurrencies without your authorization. This Tone.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.
