Unpackcheck.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Unpackcheck.exe process belongs to a harmful application that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly nonfunctional as a result of high CPU use.

What is Unpackcheck.exe process?

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

Unpackcheck.exe Windows Process

Unpackcheck.exe – Very high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Unpackcheck.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often can lead to bad effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining term means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful machine is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Extremely bad performance
  • CPU/GPU cooler fan creates a lot of noise
  • High temperature of the device (for laptops)
  • 80-90% consumption of CPU/GPU resources by an unknown process
  • Microsoft Defender is not working
  • |

  • 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
  • |

  • Your device overheats (system unit/laptop body is very hot)
  • You are not able to open your apps or they are opening for ages
  • Unknown process is running in the background and consumes your PC resources
  • Windows Defender does not respond
  • How dangerous is the Unpackcheck.exe miner?

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

    Firstly, Unpackcheck.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, as all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from incredibly slow performance. Pages can open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.

    Unpackcheck.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners do to your PC. Unpackcheck.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malevolent operations successfully, it wrecks the security components 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 load of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the original in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak level for long times may cause damage to your device and raise power bills. PC elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered CPU cooling system is quite hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Unpackcheck.exe can easily lead to GPU failure2. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Unpackcheck.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 one of the most prevalent malicious programs through “major” viruses. Adware frequently acts as a carrier for Unpackcheck.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Unpackcheck.exe is just among them.

    Unwanted banners adware

    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 dubious web page as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Unpackcheck.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.

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

    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security engineer focused on malware behavior, removal workflows, and Windows hardening. Robert reviews threat articles for practical accuracy, checking detection names, symptoms, and cleanup steps before publication.

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