Winsrvhost.exe executable file belongs to a malicious application that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer pretty much unusable due to high CPU usage.
What is Winsrvhost.exe process?
Winsrvhost.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Winsrvhost.exe – Very high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Winsrvhost.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often may lead to sad consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Winsrvhost.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Winsrvhost.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all processor power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly sluggish performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Winsrvhost.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Winsrvhost.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Aggregatorhost.exe, Windows.security, Drive.watchdog |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Winsrvhost.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single negative thing coin miners do to your PC. Winsrvhost.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malevolent functions properly, it ruins the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be thrown back to the original in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, running at peak level for long times can cause damage to your device and increase power costs. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered CPU cooling system is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while running, for instance, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Winsrvhost.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable case when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Winsrvhost.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 thing on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, 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 blaming these people for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.
How to remove the Winsrvhost.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 computer 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 allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU 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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