Winpthreadgc.exe executable file comes from a harmful program that can properly be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly unfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Winpthreadgc.exe process?
Winpthreadgc.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Winpthreadgc.exe – Really high CPU as well as GPU usage
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their operations. In that case, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Winpthreadgc.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often may cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Winpthreadgc.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First off, Winpthreadgc.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, because all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.
Winpthreadgc.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Winpthreadgc.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Officeclicktorun.exe, Gtavmod.exe, Dog.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Winpthreadgc.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single bad activity coin miners perform to your PC. Winpthreadgc.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malevolent functions effectively, it wrecks the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be reverted to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, performing at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your machine and raise power costs. Hardware elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Little and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while working, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Winpthreadgc.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad situation when the performance of your GPU plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Winpthreadgc.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
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 who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid purchasing 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 and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Winpthreadgc.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with the majority of non-critical system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer 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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