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.
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
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
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
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.
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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