Utilman.exe executable file belongs to a malicious program that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly unfunctional because of high CPU use.
What is Utilman.exe process?
Utilman.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have actually specified previously, Utilman.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the executive file can be different, however, the impacts are usually the identical. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your personal computer to perform this procedure. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you probably want to make use of your machine for other tasks – it will consistently use over 80% of your processor power.
Utilman.exe – Very high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Utilman.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may result in bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very strong desktop is needed. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Utilman.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First of all, Utilman.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, 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 suffer from extremely slow efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.
Utilman.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Utilman.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Unic.exe, Win64.exe, Consulta.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Utilman.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your system. Utilman.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malicious operations successfully, it ruins the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be thrown back to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine as well as raise electricity 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.
Tiny and well-protected CPU fan is quite hard to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Utilman.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also prone to have very fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Utilman.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 widespread malicious programs through “major” malware. Adware sometimes works as a carrier for Utilman.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that around 30% of all malware spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Utilman.exe is right one of them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Utilman.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Getting rid of such a virus demands using specific program. Effective antivirus should have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak PCs. Furthermore, it is better to have proactive security in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits all of the discussed characteristics.5
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Utilman.exe miner consumes a lot of processor capacity, it is needed to halt 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 applications, just like the majority of non-crucial Windows components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Utilman.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 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 a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.
Remove Utilman.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Utilman.exe
Description: The Utilman.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Utilman.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.
utilmon.exe is a virus windows file? or a malware file hidden file