Winsysmgr.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Winsysmgr.exe executable file comes from a malevolent program that can properly be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly nonfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
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What is Winsysmgr.exe process?

Winsysmgr.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

As I have actually pointed out in the introduction, Winsysmgr.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, however, the impacts are generally the same. Since coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all possible hardware power of your personal computer to perform this procedure. This malware doesn’t care about the fact that you probably want to make use of your computer for other tasks – it will continuously take over 80% of your processor power.

Winsysmgr.exe Windows Process

Winsysmgr.exe – Very high CPU/GPU usage

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as CPU for system work, so Winsysmgr.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often may cause bad consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a strong PC is needed. Exactly, the GPU is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of dozens of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ computers 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 Winsysmgr.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, Winsysmgr.exe virus makes your PC 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 necessities, 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 experience extremely slow efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any kind of logins will take about a minute – just a headache for a person that does a job online.

    Winsysmgr.exe Technical Summary.

    File NameWinsysmgr.exe
    TypeTrojan Coin Miner
    Detection NameTrojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution MethodSoftware bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behaviorIcacls.exe, Wsappx.exe, Displayhelp.exe
    RemovalDownload and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Winsysmgr.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary negative activity coin miners perform to your computer. Winsysmgr.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious operations successfully, it wrecks the protection components 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 ton of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the original in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, performing at peak power for long times may cause damage to your device as well as increase power costs. Hardware components are created to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Winsysmgr.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable case when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Winsysmgr.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 widespread malevolent programs through “serious” malware. Adware sometimes acts as a carrier for Winsysmgr.exe malware infiltration: it demonstrates 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. However, the statistics show that about 30% of all viruses spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Winsysmgr.exe is right with 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 suspicious site as a part of a program. People that spread hacked variants of favored programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for each installation. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying 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 desktop.

    How to remove the Winsysmgr.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 app. Appropriate security tool must have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak PCs. On top of that, it is recommended to have proactive security in your security solution – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these functions for various factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits each of the mentioned characteristics.5

    Before the malware removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Winsysmgr.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is required to halt 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 apps, along with the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Winsysmgr.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.

    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 Winsysmgr.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Winsysmgr.exe

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

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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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