Yandex.exe Virus (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Yandex.exe process is related to a malevolent program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, generally – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer pretty much nonfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.

What is Yandex.exe process?

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

Yandex.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as processor for system work, so Yandex.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes can lead to unhappy consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

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 Yandex.exe miner?

    Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

    First of all, Yandex.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally sluggish efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.

    Yandex.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Yandex.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Qasek.exe, Task16minerstarter.exe, Wmpemgr.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Yandex.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a single negative activity coin miners perform to your system. Yandex.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malevolent functions effectively, it wrecks the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides decreasing your system’s performance, running at peak level for long times 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.

    Small and well-protected CPU cooling system is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards 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 very high load caused by Yandex.exe miner can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also prone to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Yandex.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 thing on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not require the license key) have small chances to get paid. For this reason, there is a very big lure to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each installation. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger figure for antivirus program as well as new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Yandex.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 system 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 computer without dealing with high processor 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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