Works.exe process comes from a malicious program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much unfunctional because of high CPU usage.
What is Works.exe process?
Works.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Works.exe – Really high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will likely 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 Works.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes may lead to unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Works.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Works.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, 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 extremely slow performance. Pages can open up for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Works.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Works.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Rundll32.exe, Msedge.exe, Ntoskrnl.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Works.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Works.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malicious operations correctly, it ruins the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be reverted to the original in the process of system recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, performing at peak level for a long period of time can trigger damage to your device as well as increase power costs. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Compact and well-protected CPU fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while working, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Works.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Video cards are also prone to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Works.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 PC is by downloading it from the dubious web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. For this reason, there is a huge lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for each setup. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software as well as new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Works.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 software, just like the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high processor 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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