Windows service.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Windows service.exe process comes from a malicious program that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unusable as a result of high CPU usage.

What is Windows service.exe process?

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

Windows service.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU usage

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Windows service.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes may lead to sad consequences.

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 Windows service.exe miner?

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

    Initially, Windows service.exe virus makes your computer 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 needs, 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 performance. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.

    Windows service.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Windows service.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Entertainment.exe, Hxoutlook.exe, Roclin.click
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Windows service.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary negative activity coin miners perform to your personal computer. Windows service.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious operations properly, it ruins the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. 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 PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak power for a long period of time may cause damage to your machine as well as raise power expenses. PC components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Little and covered CPU fan 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 example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Windows service.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have very fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Windows service.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

    One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Windows service.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 applications, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor 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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