Winlogson.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

What is Winlogson.exe process?

As I have specified in the introduction, Winlogson.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file can be different, however, the impacts are usually the same. Because coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware power of your desktop to perform this operation. This malware doesn’t take note of the fact that you may want to make use of your PC for other activities – it will continuously take over 80% of your processor power.

Winlogson.exe – Very high CPU as well as GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will likely struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as essential as processor for system work, so Winlogson.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often may cause unhappy effects.

Crypto mining means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a high-end PC is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.²

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

How dangerous is the Winlogson.exe miner?

Firstly, Winlogson.exe virus makes your PC overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is consumed by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, 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 experience extremely sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that works online.

Winlogson.exe Technical Summary.

“Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners do to your computer. Winlogson.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To complete all malicious operations properly, it ruins the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the original in the process of PC recovery.

Hardware effects of coin miner activity

Besides decreasing your computer’s performance, running at peak power for long times can cause damage to your machine and raise power expenses. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.

Little and well-protected processor cooling system is quite hard to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Winlogson.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure³. GPUs are also tend to have very fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable case when the performance of your video card plunges 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

How did I get Winlogson.exe coin miner virus?

Coin miners are one of the most widespread malevolent programs through “serious” viruses. Adware often serves as a carrier for Winlogson.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Winlogson.exe is just one of them.⁴

The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

An additional way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious site as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked variants of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and receive a coin for every installation. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your computer.

How to remove the Winlogson.exe miner from my PC?

Eliminating such a virus requires using specific app. Proper security tool must have high efficiency at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage even on weak computers. Additionally, it is better to have on-run protection in your security solution – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for various factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits all of the mentioned characteristics.⁵

Before the virus removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Winlogson.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU power, it is required 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 programs, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the computer without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

Remove Winlogson.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.

References

1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
4. Read more about various malware type on GridinSoft Threat Encyclopedia.
5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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