Winopen.exe process comes from a malicious program that can accurately be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much nonfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Winopen.exe process?
Winopen.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out in the introduction, Winopen.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the executive file may be different, however, the consequences are usually the identical. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your PC to perform this operation. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you probably need to make use of your desktop for other tasks – it will always use over 80% of your CPU power.
Winopen.exe – Very high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Winopen.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes can result in sad effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a strong machine is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Winopen.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Winopen.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, as all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow performance. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Winopen.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Winopen.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Host.exe, Fmcud.exe, Eu.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Winopen.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your PC. Winopen.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To carry out all malicious functions properly, it ruins the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak level for long times can cause damage to your device and increase power expenses. Hardware components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected CPU fan is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Winopen.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also tend to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad situation when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Winopen.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 widespread malicious programs among “severe” malware. Adware sometimes acts as a carrier for Winopen.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that around 30% of all viruses spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Winopen.exe is right with them.4
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 website as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every setup. Before blaming these people for hacking and 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 bigger figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Winopen.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Removing such a virus involves using specific tool. Appropriate antivirus should have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak computers. Additionally, it is recommended to have proactive security in your security tool – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb option that fits each of the discussed characteristics.5
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Winopen.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 system is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the computer without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Winopen.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 Winopen.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Winopen.exe
Description: The Winopen.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Winopen.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.
