Xmr-stak.exe process comes from a malevolent application that can properly be defined as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly unusable as a result of high CPU utilization.
What is Xmr-stak.exe process?
Xmr-stak.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Xmr-stak.exe – Very high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Xmr-stak.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It sometimes may cause unhappy effects.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Xmr-stak.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First, Xmr-stak.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all CPU 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 browser is open, you will likely experience exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages will open for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who does a job online.
Xmr-stak.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Xmr-stak.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Driver.windows, Serverapp.exe, Kernelx64.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Xmr-stak.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners do to your PC. Xmr-stak.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious functions effectively, it wrecks the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak level for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine and raise power costs. PC components are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and well-protected processor fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for example, by the user much before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Xmr-stak.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an unwanted situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Xmr-stak.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
One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the suspicious website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to criticizing these individuals for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid buying the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Xmr-stak.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 PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like 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 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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