Windowssecurity.exe executable file belongs to a malevolent program that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost unfunctional due to high CPU usage.
What is Windowssecurity.exe process?
Windowssecurity.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Windowssecurity.exe – Very high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Windowssecurity.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often can cause sad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Windowssecurity.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First of all, Windowssecurity.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all processor power is used by a virus. 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 browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely slow efficiency. Pages can open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Windowssecurity.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Windowssecurity.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Hidfind.exe, Msisa.exe, 7z2107.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Windowssecurity.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary negative thing coin miners perform to your system. Windowssecurity.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malevolent operations successfully, it ruins the protection features 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 ton of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine and increase power bills. PC elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and well-protected CPU fan is hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Windowssecurity.exe miner can easily lead to GPU failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely a bad case when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Windowssecurity.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 computer is by downloading it from the dubious site 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. For this reason, there is a very big temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for each installation. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Windowssecurity.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 programs, along with the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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