Vghost.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Vghost.exe executable file is related to a malevolent program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin¹. It makes your personal computer pretty much nonfunctional as a result of high CPU utilization.

What is Vghost.exe process?

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

Vghost.exe – Really high CPU/GPU use

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Vghost.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may result in sad effects.

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 Vghost.exe miner?

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

Initially, Vghost.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, 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 suffer from exceptionally slow performance. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who works online.

Vghost.exe Technical Summary.

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

“Visible” harm is not a single unpleasant thing coin miners perform to your system. Vghost.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malicious functions properly, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are added by this coin 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 computer recovery.

Hardware effects of coin miner activity

Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, running at peak level for long times may trigger damage to your device and increase electricity expenses. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

Small and well-protected processor cooling system is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched 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 Vghost.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure³. GPUs are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

How did I get Vghost.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 item on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a very big temptation to include 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 spreading, ask yourself – is it okay 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 Vghost.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 apps, along with the majority of non-crucial system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.