Vbhost.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Vbhost.exe process comes from a malicious application that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer almost unfunctional due to high CPU utilization.

What is Vbhost.exe process?

Vbhost.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Vbhost.exe Windows Process

Vbhost.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Vbhost.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may cause sad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • 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
  • How dangerous is the Vbhost.exe miner?

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

    Firstly, Vbhost.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, because all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your needs, all it pays attention to is making money 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 for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.

    Vbhost.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” harm is not a single negative thing coin miners perform to your PC. Vbhost.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malicious operations effectively, it wrecks the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your machine as well as increase electricity costs. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Compact and covered CPU cooling system is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while spinning, for instance, by the user much before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Vbhost.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also tend to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Vbhost.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
    Unwanted banners adware

    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 unreliable site as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a huge lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each setup. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus program and new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Vbhost.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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, along with the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU 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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