Driver.exe Miner - How to Detect and Remove It

by Ventsislav Krastev | January 15, 2018 | 0 Comments CryptoCurrency, malware, Miner, trojan

Threat Summary Driver.exe Miner Virus – Distribution Methods Driver.exe Malware – Malicious Activity Remove Driver.exe Miner Virus and Protect Your PC

This blog post has been created to explain what is driver.exe cryptocurrency miner Trojan and show how to remove it from your computer plus protect your PC against future infections as well.

A new cryptocurrency miner malware, using the process driver.exe has been detected by malware researchers. The malware is known to be one of the most dangerous out there, since it uses the resources of the computers that are infected by it in order to generate cryptocurrency tokens at the benefit of the cyber-criminal who is behind the malware. This may result in multiple negative consequences for victims, including general slowing down of their computers plus their system may crash and freeze at times. In the event that your computer has been infected by the driver.exe crypto miner malware, it is strongly advisable to read this article and learn how to remove it from your PC plus how to protect yourself against future infections.

Threat Summary

Name	driver.exe malware
Type	CryptoCurrency Miner Malware
Short Description	Aims to mine for different cryptocurrencies on the victim’s computer after which may begin to
Symptoms	The driver.exe miner may begin to slow down your computer by using over 90% of both your CPU and GPU. This may result in your cooling fans to work at higher speeds.
Distribution Method	Via bundled installers, fake setups or via other PUP that has already been installed on your PC.
Detection Tool	See If Your System Has Been Affected by malware Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join Our Forum to Discuss driver.exe malware.

Driver.exe Miner Virus – Distribution Methods

Fort this malware to be widespread, various strategies may be undertaken by the cyber-criminals who are behind it. They may include it as an e-mail attachment which pretends to be a legitimate type of document. Such types of files often pretend to be legitimate, such as:

Invoices.
Receipts for orders the victim hasn’t made.
Order confirmation files.
Files related to an undelivered order.

Such social engineering techniques are often used by hackers to trick victims into opening the malicious files of the malware and hence become infected. If it comes by an attachment, the file may not be directly uploaded as e-mail providers often scan for such files. Instead, most malicious files are often archived in Microsoft Office documents, that aim to obfuscate them from their malicious nature. Some files may even be fake Microsoft Office documents that contain malicious macros and can infect your computer by simply getting you to open them.

Besides this method of infection, there may also be other methods that may cause an infection. They are the passive methods and they often involve suspicious sites. Some lazier cyber-crooks prefer them as they only have to upload the file once on the site and all the victim has to do is search for it. Such fake files may be:

Fake setups of programs or games.
Fraudulent key generators.
Fake cracks for games.
Pretending-to-be patch-fixes for software or games.
Fake software activators.

Driver.exe Malware – Malicious Activity

Once an infection by this malware takes place on your computer system, you may immediately notice it, since the infection process triggers the main files of the virus, including driver.exe process. While pretending to be some sort of a driver-related process, this malware may begin to drop it’s malicious files on your computer. The malicious files may be more than one and may exist in the following Windows folders under different names:

After the malicious files are dropped on your computer the virus may create mutexes and execute functions of it’s malicious files that may result in some system files of your operating system to be modified. This is done with the purpose of the virus becoming able to run as an administrator the malicious drive.exe process. The only purpose of this is for the process to connect your computer to a cryptocurrency mining pool. Such pool is basically many miners that join their power together in order to begin generating cryptocurrencies by calculating and assembling hashes. The more hashing power is connected to the wallet of the cyber-criminal who has infected your PC with driver.exe, the more cryptocurrency tokens he or she will obtain for a fixed period of time. This is why most cyber-crooks who are behind miner viruses, like the driver.exe one often aim to infect a lot of people for short periods of time.

In addition to it’s malicious activity as a miner, the driver.exe virus may also perform other unwanted activities on your computers system, since it’s malware. Just like any other Trojan horse, this virus may:

Steal files from your PC.
Download and install other malware on it.
Make sure that it remains on your computer undetected and active, even if you delete some of it’s files.
Update itself to remain hidden.
Log your keystrokes.
Steal passwords from your computer.

Remove Driver.exe Miner Virus and Protect Your PC

Q: How Do I Remove Driver.exe and How Do I Protect Myself In the Future?

A: In order to remove the driver.exe miner, you should first stop the malicious processes of the malware by entering Windows Task Manager and stopping the malicious task by right-clicking on the driver.exe process and clicking on End Process or End Process tree. This results in the virus stopping to mine. After doing so, you may want to remove the malware preferably by following the automatic or manual removal instructions below, if you have removed malware manually and have the experience. Be advised that security experts strongly recommend to remove the driver.exe miner malware automatically by downloading an advanced anti-malware software, that aims to scan for and erase all malware from your system plus protect it against future infections as well.

Ventsislav Krastev

Ventsislav is a cybersecurity expert at SensorsTechForum since 2015. He has been researching, covering, helping victims with the latest malware infections plus testing and reviewing software and the newest tech developments. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for learning new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management, Network Administration and Computer Administration of System Applications, he found his true calling within the cybersecrurity industry and is a strong believer in the education of every user towards online safety and security.

How to Remove driver.exe malware from Windows.

Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove driver.exe malware

OFFER

Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!

We Recommend To Scan Your PC with SpyHunter

Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter's malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter's EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria

1. Hold Windows key() + R

2. The "Run" Window will appear. In it, type "msconfig" and click OK.

3. Go to the "Boot" tab. There select "Safe Boot" and then click "Apply" and "OK".

Tip: Make sure to reverse those changes by unticking Safe Boot after that, because your system will always boot in Safe Boot from now on.

4. When prompted, click on "Restart" to go into Safe Mode.

5. You can recognise Safe Mode by the words written on the corners of your screen.

Step 2: Uninstall driver.exe malware and related software from Windows

Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs. No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:

1. Hold the Windows Logo Button and "R" on your keyboard. A Pop-up window will appear.

2. In the field type in "appwiz.cpl" and press ENTER.

3. This will open a window with all the programs installed on the PC. Select the program that you want to remove, and press "Uninstall"

Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.

Step 3: Clean any registries, created by driver.exe malware on your computer.

The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by driver.exe malware there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:

1. Open the Run Window again, type "regedit" and click OK.

2. When you open it, you can freely navigate to the Run and RunOnce keys, whose locations are shown above.

3. You can remove the value of the virus by right-clicking on it and removing it.

Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click "Modify" to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.

IMPORTANT!
Before starting "Step 4", please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.

Step 4: Scan for driver.exe malware with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

1. Click on the "Download" button to proceed to SpyHunter's download page.

Download

Malware Removal Tool

It is recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter's EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.

2. After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.

3. After the update process has finished, click on the 'Malware/PC Scan' tab. A new window will appear. Click on 'Start Scan'.

4. After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the 'Next' button.

If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer Stop Push Pop-ups

Get rid of driver.exe malware from Mac OS X.

Step 1: Uninstall driver.exe malware and remove related files and objects

OFFER

Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!

We Recommend To Scan Your Mac with SpyHunter for Mac

Keep in mind, that SpyHunter for Mac needs to purchased to remove the malware threats. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA and Privacy Policy

1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:

2. Find Activity Monitor and double-click it:

3. In the Activity Monitor look for any suspicious processes, belonging or related to driver.exe malware:

Tip: To quit a process completely, choose the “Force Quit” option.

4. Click on the "Go" button again, but this time select Applications. Another way is with the ⇧+⌘+A buttons.

5. In the Applications menu, look for any suspicious app or an app with a name, similar or identical to driver.exe malware. If you find it, right-click on the app and select “Move to Trash”.

6: Select Accounts, after which click on the Login Items preference. Your Mac will then show you a list of items that start automatically when you log in. Look for any suspicious apps identical or similar to driver.exe malware. Check the app you want to stop from running automatically and then select on the Minus (“-“) icon to hide it.

7: Remove any left-over files that might be related to this threat manually by following the sub-steps below:

Go to Finder.
In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.

In case you cannot remove driver.exe malware via Step 1 above:

In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:

Disclaimer! If you are about to tamper with Library files on Mac, be sure to know the name of the virus file, because if you delete the wrong file, it may cause irreversible damage to your MacOS. Continue on your own responsibility!

1: Click on "Go" and Then "Go to Folder" as shown underneath:

2: Type in "/Library/LauchAgents/" and click Ok:

3: Delete all of the virus files that have similar or the same name as driver.exe malware. If you believe there is no such file, do not delete anything.

You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:

→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons

Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.

Step 2: Scan for and remove driver.exe malware files from your Mac

When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as driver.exe malware, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. SpyHunter for Mac offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.

Click the button below below to download SpyHunter for Mac and scan for driver.exe malware:

Download

SpyHunter for Mac

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer Stop Push Pop-ups

Remove driver.exe malware from Google Chrome.

Step 1: Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu

Step 2: Move the cursor over "Tools" and then from the extended menu choose "Extensions"

Step 3: From the opened "Extensions" menu locate the unwanted extension and click on its "Remove" button.

Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer Stop Push Pop-ups

Erase driver.exe malware from Mozilla Firefox.

Step 1: Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window

Step 2: Select the "Add-ons" icon from the menu.

Step 3: Select the unwanted extension and click "Remove"

Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer Stop Push Pop-ups

Uninstall driver.exe malware from Microsoft Edge.

Step 1: Start Edge browser.

Step 2: Open the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.

Step 3: From the drop menu select "Extensions".

Step 4: Choose the suspected malicious extension you want to remove and then click on the gear icon.

Step 5: Remove the malicious extension by scrolling down and then clicking on Uninstall.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer Stop Push Pop-ups

Remove driver.exe malware from Safari.

Step 1: Start the Safari app.

Step 2: After hovering your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, click on the Safari text to open its drop down menu.

Step 3: From the menu, click on "Preferences".

Step 4: After that, select the 'Extensions' Tab.

Step 5: Click once on the extension you want to remove.

Step 6: Click 'Uninstall'.

A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to uninstall the extension. Select 'Uninstall' again, and the driver.exe malware will be removed.

How to Reset Safari
IMPORTANT: Before resetting Safari make sure you back up all your saved passwords within the browser in case you forget them.

Start Safari and then click on the gear leaver icon.

Click the Reset Safari button and you will reset the browser.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer Stop Push Pop-ups

Eliminate driver.exe malware from Internet Explorer.

Step 1: Start Internet Explorer.

Step 2: Click on the gear icon labeled 'Tools' to open the drop menu and select 'Manage Add-ons'

Step 3: In the 'Manage Add-ons' window.

Step 4: Select the extension you want to remove and then click 'Disable'. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click 'Disable'.

Step 5: After the unwanted extension has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red 'X' button located at the top right corner and start it again.