Win.exe process comes from a malevolent program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly unusable as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Win.exe process?
Win.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified in the previous paragraph, Win.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file can be different, but the consequences are usually the same. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware power of your PC to run this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you may need to make use of your device for other tasks – it will continuously consume over 80% of your processor power.
Win.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Win.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes may cause bad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining is a term that means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a high-end desktop is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of dozens of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Win.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Win.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, because all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your needs, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Win.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Win.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Lineinst.exe, Minerhash.exe, Zecminer64.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Win.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Win.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malicious functions effectively, it ruins the protection 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 number of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, running at peak level for a long period of time can cause damage to your machine and increase electricity bills. PC components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered processor fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while running, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Win.exe can easily lead to GPU failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Win.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 one of the most widespread malevolent programs among “major” viruses. Adware sometimes acts as a carrier for Win.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Win.exe is right among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not need 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 receive a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software as well as new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Win.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 requires making use of specific app. Effective security tool must have high performance at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak systems. On top of that, it is better to have on-run protection in your security tool – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for various factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is an ideal option that fits each of the discussed characteristics.5
Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Win.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is needed to stop 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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Win.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 Win.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Win.exe
Description: The Win.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Win.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.
