Updatekiller.exe process belongs to a malicious application that can correctly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer almost nonfunctional due to high CPU usage.
What is Updatekiller.exe process?
Updatekiller.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Updatekiller.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Updatekiller.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes may result in sad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Updatekiller.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Updatekiller.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, because all processor power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.
Updatekiller.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Updatekiller.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Pc_pcpc.exe, Windows.service, Packs.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Updatekiller.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your system. Updatekiller.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To perform all malevolent functions effectively, it wrecks the protection features 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 number of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, running at peak level for a long period of time may cause damage to your machine and raise power costs. PC 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.
Little and covered CPU fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Updatekiller.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Updatekiller.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
Another 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 require the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, 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 figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Updatekiller.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 software, just like the majority of non-crucial system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with 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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