Winservices.exe executable file belongs to a harmful program that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much unfunctional due to high CPU use.
What is Winservices.exe process?
Winservices.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out before, Winservices.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the executive file can be diverse, however, the consequences are almost always the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware power of your desktop to run this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you probably want to make use of your desktop for other activities – it will consistently take over 80% of your CPU power.
Winservices.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Winservices.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often can lead to sad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining is a term that means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a strong machine is required. Exactly, the GPU is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks 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 Winservices.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, Winservices.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, because all processor power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely suffer from extremely sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.
Winservices.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Winservices.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Hxtsr.exe, Office.exe, Dqltxp.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Winservices.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners perform to your computer. Winservices.exe coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To conduct all malicious operations correctly, it ruins the protection features 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 load of new notes – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, running at peak power for a long period of time can cause damage to your device as well as increase power costs. 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 well-protected processor cooling system is not very easy to broke. 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 virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Winservices.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also tend to have fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Winservices.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 prevalent malevolent programs among “major” malware. Adware often serves as a carrier for Winservices.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that about 30% of all malware spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Winservices.exe is right one of them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the untrustworthy website as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to earn money. Hence, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for every setup. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid buying 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 program and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Winservices.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 needs using special tool. Proper anti-malware program must have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization even on weak computers. In addition, it is recommended to have on-run security in your protection solution – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great choice that fits each of the specified features.5
Before the virus removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Winservices.exe miner consumes a lot of processor power, 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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with the majority of non-crucial Windows 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 Winservices.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 Winservices.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Winservices.exe
Description: The Winservices.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Winservices.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.
