Wndows driver.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Wndows driver.exe process belongs to a harmful program that can correctly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly nonfunctional as a result of high CPU use.

What is Wndows driver.exe process?

Wndows driver.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Wndows driver.exe Windows Process

Wndows driver.exe – Very high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Wndows driver.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often can result in sad consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Microsoft Defender is stopped;
  • CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start
  • Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise
  • A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power
  • How dangerous is the Wndows driver.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, Wndows driver.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, as all processor power is consumed 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 exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that works online.

    Wndows driver.exe Technical Summary.

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

    “Visible” damage is not a solitary bad activity coin miners perform to your computer. Wndows driver.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malicious operations correctly, it wrecks the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be thrown back to the initial state 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 and increase electricity expenses. Hardware components are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

    Small and well-protected CPU cooling system is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if affected while spinning, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Wndows driver.exe virus can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely a bad case when the performance of your GPU decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Wndows driver.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious website 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 get paid. Hence, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for every installation. Before blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software and new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Wndows driver.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.

    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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, just like the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    Security engineer focused on malware behavior, removal workflows, and Windows hardening. Robert reviews threat articles for practical accuracy, checking detection names, symptoms, and cleanup steps before publication.

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