hostXmrig.exe / NsCpuCNMiner.exe Malware – How to Remove It

Ventsislav Krastev

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

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This article has been created in order to help explain what is the hostXmrig.exe CPU miner malware and how to remove it and prevent it from mining for cryptocurrencies on your computer system.

New cryptocurrency miner malware which uses the executable hostXmrig.exe to mine for cryptocurrencies has been identified by security experts. The cryptocurrency miner aims to use the resources of your computer, primarily the CPU and GPU power in order to calculate the so called hashes, which add up to generate cryptocurrency tokens. The main two cryptocurrencies which hostXmrig.exe could mine for are known as BitCoin and Monero at the time of writing this, since they are anonymous. If you want to remove the hostXmrig.exe malware from your computer in the event that you believe your PC has been infected, reccomendations are to read this article.

Threat Summary

Name	hostXmrig.exe
Type	CryptoCurrency Miner
Short Description	Aims to infect your computer and use it’s CPU, GPU and other resources to turn it into a miner for cryptocurrencies.
Symptoms	Hightened CPU and GPU usage and overheating. The victim PC may break if this virus mines for longer periods of time.
Distribution Method	Spam Emails, Email Attachments, Executable files
Detection Tool	See If Your System Has Been Affected by hostXmrig.exe Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join Our Forum to Discuss hostXmrig.exe.

hostXmrig.exe –
Infection

Being a typical miner malware, that is associated with a Trojan Horse infection, the process of infecting computers used by hostXmrig.exe is performed via series of exploits for Windows that may be used by malware authors to spread the virus itself. Those exploits are usually contained in an infection file which is spread via a multitude of ways, including via:

• E-mail.
• Malicious websites.
• Spammed web links on social media.
• Facebook Messenger and other type of online chat software.

The most often used method among all is the conventional infection via e-mail spam messages. Such e-mails often pretend to come from a legitimate vendor, like PayPal, DHL, Fed Ex, etc, and they often contain messages within them that aim to get the vicitm to open the malicious attachment. The attachment is often in a .zip or .rar file and may pose as:

• Order confirmation.
• Receipt for purchase that the victim hasn’t made.
• Banking statement.
• Other types of important documents.

In the event that you want to prevent future infections, you should always update your Windows plus disable some services which are known to have exploits that are used to infect your computer.

• Disable the WMI service.
• Disable SMB and Download the latest security patches from Microsoft.

hostXmrig.exe Miner – More Information

After your computer has become infected by the hostXmrig.exe miner, it may begin to experience interruptions, slow-downs, system freezes and other types of anomalous occurrences. These are primarily due to the fact that two files are dropped on your computer that are automatically ran in the background of your PC:

• %AppData%\hostXmrig.exe
• %AppData%\NsCpuCNMiner.exe

After the payload of the hostXmrig.exe miner malware is dropped on your computer, the virus may begin to perform various of unwanted activities, beginning with connecting your computer to a mining pool. This results in you being connected to the account of the cyber-criminals who are behind the infection. This may immediately result in your computer beggining to experience performance issues, due to insufficient CPU and GPU power, because most of it is taken by the miners. While the hostXmrig.exe may mine for cryptocurrencies that are minable via a GPU card, the NsCpuCNMiner may use the CPU to try and mine for other cryptocurrencies from the likes of BitCoin, that are only mineable, using CPU power.

In addition to performing it’s mining operations, which may not only slow down your PC, but may also break it’s components, if the virus stays on it for longer periods of time, the malware may also perform other malicious activities. Since it’s partially a Trojan horse, the hostXmrig.exe miner may also:

• Log your keystrokes.
• Obtain vital financial information on your computer.
• Steal passwords, login credentials.
• Steal your files.
• Self-update and migrate to other processes, only tricking you that you have deleted it to remain persistent.

How to Detect and Remove hostXmrig.exe Miner

In order to fully detect and get rid of this malicious software, recommendations are that you focus on following the removal instructions which we have created down below. They are specifically divided in manual and automatic removal manuals so that if you lack the experience in removing hostXmrig.exe manually and it reappears, you may solve the issue automatically. In addition to this, malware researchers strongly recommend that you focus on removing hostXmrig.exe miner automatically to fully delete this virus with maximum effectiveness plus protect your PC against future infections as well.

Note! Your computer system may be affected by hostXmrig.exe and other threats.
Scan Your PC with SpyHunter
SpyHunter is a powerful malware removal tool designed to help users with in-depth system security analysis, detection and removal of threats such as hostXmrig.exe.
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.

To remove hostXmrig.exe follow these steps:

1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove hostXmrig.exe files and objects

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

Boot Your PC Into Safe Mode

1. For Windows XP, Vista and 7. 2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Fix registry entries created by malware and PUPs on your PC.

For Windows XP, Vista and 7 systems:

1. Remove all CDs and DVDs, and then Restart your PC from the “Start” menu.
2. Select one of the two options provided below:

– For PCs with a single operating system: Press “F8” repeatedly after the first boot screen shows up during the restart of your computer. In case the Windows logo appears on the screen, you have to repeat the same task again.

– For PCs with multiple operating systems: Тhe arrow keys will help you select the operating system you prefer to start in Safe Mode. Press “F8” just as described for a single operating system.

3. As the “Advanced Boot Options” screen appears, select the Safe Mode option you want using the arrow keys. As you make your selection, press “Enter“.

4. Log on to your computer using your administrator account

While your computer is in Safe Mode, the words “Safe Mode” will appear in all four corners of your screen.

Step 1: Open up the Start Menu.

Step 2: Click on the Power button (for Windows 8 it is the little arrow next to the “Shut Down” button) and whilst holding down “Shift” click on Restart.

Step 3: After reboot, a blue menu with options will appear. From them you should choose Troubleshoot.

Step 4: You will see the Troubleshoot menu. From this menu choose Advanced Options.

Step 5: After the Advanced Options menu appears, click on Startup Settings.

Step 6: From the Startup Settings menu, click on Restart.

Step 7: A menu will appear upon reboot. You can choose any of the three Safe Mode options by pressing its corresponding number and the machine will restart.

Some malicious scripts may modify the registry entries on your computer to change different settings. This is why cleaning your Windows Registry Database is recommended. Since the tutorial on how to do this is a bit long and tampering with registries could damage your computer if not done properly you should refer and follow our instructive article about fixing registry entries, especially if you are unexperienced in that area.

2. Find files created by hostXmrig.exe on your PC

Find files created by hostXmrig.exe

1. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. 2. For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

For Newer Windows Operating Systems

Step 1:

On your keyboard press  + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.

Step 2:

Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.

Step 3:

Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:

N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.

For Older Windows Operating Systems

In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:

Step 1:

Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.

Step 2:

After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.

Step 3:

After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.

Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.

Use SpyHunter to scan for malware and unwanted programs

3. Scan for malware and unwanted programs with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

Scan your PC and Remove hostXmrig.exe with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data

1. Install SpyHunter to scan for hostXmrig.exe and remove them.2. Scan with SpyHunter, Detect and Remove hostXmrig.exe. Back up your data to secure it from malware in the future.

Step 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.

Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.

Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.

Step 1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Malware/PC Scan’ tab. A new window will appear. Click on ‘Start Scan’.

Step 2: 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.

Step 3: If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.

Back up your data to secure it against attacks in the future

IMPORTANT! Before reading the Windows backup instructions, we highly recommend to back up your data with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats. We recommend you to read more about it and to download SOS Online Backup .

SOS Online Backup

Ventsislav Krastev

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

More Posts - Website

Ventsislav Krastev

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

More Posts - Website