Widgetservice.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Widgetservice.exe executable file comes from a malevolent program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly nonfunctional due to high CPU use.
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What is Widgetservice.exe process?

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

As I have mentioned before, Widgetservice.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the executive file can be different, but the impacts are almost always the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware power of your PC to run this procedure. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you probably want to use your desktop for other activities – it will consistently take over 80% of your CPU power.

Widgetservice.exe Windows Process

Widgetservice.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Widgetservice.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes can result in unhappy results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a high-end PC is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who gain money 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

  • 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 Widgetservice.exe miner?

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

    First off, Widgetservice.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, as all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly slow efficiency. Pages can open for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.

    Widgetservice.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary bad activity coin miners do to your system. Widgetservice.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To execute all malicious operations successfully, it wrecks the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, performing at peak power for long times can trigger damage to your machine as well as raise power bills. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and well-protected processor cooling system is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Widgetservice.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely a bad case when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Widgetservice.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 prevalent malicious programs through “serious” viruses. Adware often works as a carrier for Widgetservice.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that about 30% of all malware spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Widgetservice.exe is right among them.4

    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 site as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.

    How to remove the Widgetservice.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 special software. Effective anti-malware program should have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with usage even on weak systems. Additionally, it is better to have on-run protection in your protection tool – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for various factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits all of the mentioned qualities.5

    Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Widgetservice.exe miner takes 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.

    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 applications, along with the majority of non-crucial system 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.

    Remove Widgetservice.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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Widgetservice.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Widgetservice.exe

    Description: The Widgetservice.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Widgetservice.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

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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