Uihost.exe process, also known as UI Host, is a legitimate Windows process associated with McAfee Web Advisor. It is a legitimate process of McAfee network protection utilities. But since this process is considered legit, malware can take it to diguise itself among other processes.
Normally, Uihost.exe should not create any problems. It provides user interface to the network security utility, and even when you opened the app it should not take a lot of system resources. But once you see it draining a lot of your CPU power, this process is most likely a malicious copy. In particular, coin miner malware likes to take names of legit processes as a disguise.
What is Uihost.exe process?
As I said, original Uihost.exe is a legitimate process and is not a virus or malware. However, like any other system process, it is possible for malicious programs to disguise themselves by using a similar name. In this case, the most noticeable sign of a malicious copy is high CPU power, up to 70-80%. You will notice it even without opening the Task Manager – the system becomes exceptionally sluggish even on the simplest tasks.
Uihost.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use
Aside from high CPU usage, the definite sign of a malicious Uihost.exe instance is its file location. To check it, click the process in the Task Manager with right mouse button and choost “Open file location”. Genuine instance of this process resides in the C:\Program Files\McAfee\WebAdvisor\. If you see the file in another location, it means you deal with malware.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining term means the action 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 high-end computer is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Uihost.exe miner?
Firstly, Uihost.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally slow performance. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Uihost.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Uihost.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Mbamservice.exe, Mbamwsc.exe, Protectedmodulehost.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Uihost.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single bad activity coin miners perform to your computer. Uihost.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious functions successfully, 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 ton of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments are about to be reverted to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine and raise electricity bills. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected processor fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for example, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Uihost.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure1. Video cards are also prone to have very fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Uihost.exe coin miner virus?
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious web page as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every installation. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Uihost.exe miner from my PC?
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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
References
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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