X.exe process comes from a malicious application that can correctly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware form utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost nonfunctional due to high CPU utilization.
What is X.exe process?
X.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have pointed out in the previous paragraph, X.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, however, the consequences are usually the same. Because coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware capacity of your PC to run this operation. This virus does not care about the fact that you may need to use your computer for other tasks – it will always consume over 80% of your processor power.
X.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their tasks. 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 CPU for system work, so X.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often may cause sad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Crypto mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a strong PC is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of dozens of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who gain money 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
How dangerous is the X.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, X.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 wants, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally slow efficiency. Pages can open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person that does a job online.
X.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | X.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Gpu.exe, Msdwf.exe, Cftmon.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic X.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary negative activity coin miners do to your personal computer. X.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malevolent functions effectively, it wrecks the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. 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 computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides slowing down your computer, performing at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your device and raise electricity costs. PC elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Small and covered processor fan is hard to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by X.exe can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also prone to have increased wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get X.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 the most common malicious programs through “severe” malware. Adware sometimes serves as a carrier for X.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that approximately 30% of all malware spread with the malevolent banners are coin miners – and X.exe is just among them.4
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 unreliable site as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to make money. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.
How to remove the X.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Eliminating such a virus requires using specific program. Appropriate anti-malware program should have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak systems. In addition, it is better to have on-run security in your security solution – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for different reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a great option that fits each of the discussed qualities.5
Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since X.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is needed 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.
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 apps, along with the majority of non-critical 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 X.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.
After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.
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.
Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.
Remove X.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: X.exe
Description: The X.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This X.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
User Review
( votes)References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
- Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
