Wincfg.exe process comes from a harmful program that can correctly be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly nonfunctional due to high CPU utilization.
What is Wincfg.exe process?
Wincfg.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out in the introduction, Wincfg.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the .exe file may be diverse, however, the impacts are almost always the identical. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware power of your desktop to perform this procedure. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you may want to make use of your machine for other tasks – it will consistently use over 80% of your processor power.
Wincfg.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage
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 often utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Wincfg.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes may lead to sad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very strong machine is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who make profit 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 Wincfg.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Wincfg.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all CPU power is used 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 struggle with incredibly slow efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.
Wincfg.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Wincfg.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Setx.exe, Getmac.exe, Tasklist.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Wincfg.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your system. Wincfg.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious functions correctly, it ruins the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your PC, performing at peak power for long times may cause damage to your machine as well as increase electricity costs. PC components are created to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered CPU cooling system is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Wincfg.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Wincfg.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 common malevolent programs among “major” malware. Adware frequently functions as a carrier for Wincfg.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Wincfg.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 unreliable site as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. Hence, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for each setup. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in this manner? 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 desktop.
How to remove the Wincfg.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 involves the use of special app. Proper antivirus must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak computers. Additionally, it is better to have on-run protection in your security tool – to prevent the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for different factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits each of the specified characteristics.5
Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Wincfg.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU power, it is required 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 applications, just like the majority of non-critical system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Wincfg.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 Wincfg.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Wincfg.exe
Description: The Wincfg.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Wincfg.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.
