Winservices Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Winservices executable file comes from a malicious application that can accurately be identified as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much nonfunctional due to high CPU use.
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What is Winservices process?

Winservices is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

As I have actually pointed out in the previous paragraph, Winservices is a coin miner virus. The names of the executive file can be diverse, but the consequences are almost always the same. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware power of your personal computer to run this process. This virus does not pay attention to the fact that you probably want to use your computer for other activities – it will continuously use over 80% of your processor power.

Winservices Windows Process

Winservices – Extremely high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will probably struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Winservices coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often may lead to bad results.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Crypto mining means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful PC is needed. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of video cards to complete their task efficiently. Such computer systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks 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

  • Extremely bad performance
  • CPU/GPU cooler fan creates a lot of noise
  • High temperature of the device (for laptops)
  • 80-90% consumption of CPU/GPU resources by an unknown process
  • Microsoft Defender is not working
  • How dangerous is the Winservices miner?

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

    First, Winservices virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it pays attention to 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 will open up for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who works online.

    Winservices Technical Summary.

    File Name Winservices
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Travel.exe, Gallery.exe, Izteys.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Winservices removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary bad activity coin miners do to your personal computer. Winservices coin miner also deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malicious operations effectively, it wrecks the security features 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 number of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides slowing down your PC, running at peak level for a long period of time can cause damage to your device and raise power bills. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Little and well-protected CPU fan is hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while working, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Winservices malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have very fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely a bad case when the performance of your graphic card decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Winservices 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 common malicious programs among “serious” viruses. Adware frequently acts as a carrier for Winservices malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that around 30% of all malware spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Winservices is just one of them.4

    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 dubious web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Winservices miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software

    Getting rid of such a virus demands using specific software. Appropriate antivirus should have high performance at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak computers. Furthermore, it is better to have proactive security in your protection solution – to prevent the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for different factors. That’s why I’d recommend you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great option that fits each of the specified features.5

    Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Winservices miner takes 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.

    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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Winservices 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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Winservices Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Winservices

    Description: The Winservices is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Winservices 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

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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