CPU miner: what it is and how to remove it
CPU Miner is a malicious program that uses lots of computer's CPUs to mine digital currency. Crooks created numerous viruses to mine different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoins, Monero, Ethereoum, etc.
Facts checked October 6, 2026. Removal steps tested on Windows 11 (26H2) and checked against Microsoft's and the browser makers' current documentation. Sections marked as our earlier report are the original text: they describe the threat as it was then and have not been reviewed since. The 2026 status, the removal steps and the questions are current.
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CPU miner: summary
| Distribution | Infectious files, other viruses, emails, and cracked software |
|---|---|
| Name | CPU miner |
| Type | Trojan, malware |
| Issues | The application uses resources of the machine and mines cryptocurrency |
| Danger | Infection can lead to other infiltrations of threats when the system is not secure and vulnerable |
| Detection names | No Microsoft detection name is known |
| Removal | Scan the PC with security software to find and remove the malware and anything installed with it. Fortect scans Windows for malware and repairs the system files and settings it damaged. Remove it nowTo use the full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Fortect. The scan is free. |
Show 6 more facts
| Damage | Not recorded in the old report |
|---|---|
| Symptoms | An unknown process using the processor or graphics card |
| Evidence | 6 write-ups by security sites; details still limited |
| Files | minergate.exe |
| First seen | 7 July 2021 |
| Facts checked | 6 October 2026 |
What CPU miner does
From our report of Jul 2021 · not reviewed since
CPU Miner – a malicious program used to generate cryptocurrency
CPU Miner is a malicious program that uses lots of computer's CPUs to mine digital currency.
Crooks created numerous viruses to mine different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoins, Monero, Ethereoum, etc. The biggest problem is that users are not aware of this activity and experience serious computer-related problems. The malware typically spreads as a trojan horse. Therefore, users can be tricked into downloading it themselves. However, they might spread in software bundles and sneak into the system unnoticed.
What is more, during the past years security experts warned about countless cryptojacking cases when malicious cryptocurrency mining codes were injected into various websites. Therefore, when users visit such sites, the CPU Miner virus starts stealing their computer's resources and making virtual money.
Among the most popular and widespread miners are:
Despite the variety of illegal CPU mining programs, they all behave similarly. Once they get into the system, they launch malicious processes that can be seen in the Windows Task Manager, for instance, minergate.exe, Intelmain.exe, or others.
Processes that belong to cryptocurrency miners might use up to 90% of the computer's resources. This activity might lead to a damaged graphics card, computer overheating, and increased electrical bill. Due to the high CPU usage, a computer becomes sluggish, programs might not respond or open.
Specialists from dieviren.de warn that high CPU usage is dangerous for computers. Therefore, if you do not want your device to get physically damaged, you have to remove the threat immediately.
We highly recommend using for CPU Miner removal. Security software can clean the trojan horse from the device immediately. Additionally, our suggested tool can fix the damage that miners may have done to the system too.
- Coinhive Miner
- RubyMiner
- Minergate virus
- Monero Miner
- JSMiner-C
- Win32.CoinMiner
From our report of Jul 2021 · not reviewed since
Cryptocurrency miners use tricky methods to infiltrate devices
Crooks might spread CPU Miner virus as legitimate programs, browser extensions, or software updates.
Therefore, users can get easily tricked into installing them themselves. For this reason, security experts recommend being careful when downloading free applications.
Before agreeing to install any software, you should:
However, cryptocurrency miners might also infiltrate the system silently. Creators of such malicious programs usually rely on bundling - a deceptive software marketing method that allows adding miners to the freeware or shareware package. Therefore, when a user does not pay attention to this procedure, she or he lets the miner stepping into the system. However, you can avoid that.
First of all, make sure you select Custom or Advanced installation of the freeware to get more knowledge about optional components. After doing so, you should uncheck all pre-checked check marks that may try to inform you about CpuMiner and other suspicious components.
- Check the information about the developer;
- Download programs from the official developer's websites;
- Read user reviews about the program;
- Read EULA, Privacy policy, or similar documents provided by developers.
From our report of Jul 2021 · not reviewed since
More from our earlier report on CPU miner
- You need a proper anti-malware tool to find all pieces related to the infection
- Run and repair any additional damage
Is CPU miner dangerous?
From our report of Jul 2021 · not reviewed since
Nevertheless, trojan horses are quite an effective infiltration strategy; cybercriminals found a more sophisticated method to mine digital coins.
Criminals attack popular websites and inject malicious JavaScript code that allows mining cryptocurrency as soon as a visitor enters a compromised website.
Such cryptojacking attacks hit UK, USA, and Australian government websites, adult-themed, entertainment, and many other sites. While some CPU Miners stop their activity when a user leaves a compromised website, others continue their job by displaying a pop-under window that hides behind the clock on the Windows taskbar.
Therefore, if you noticed that your browser became sluggish and your computer became very slow, you should open the Task Manager and attentively look through running processes. Stop all the suspicious entries that are using lots of CPU. If high CPU usage comes back, you should check the system for malicious software.
Check your PC for CPU miner
- File:
minergate.exe
How to remove CPU miner
Miners hide when Task Manager opens and add Defender exclusions.
The steps deal with both, then remove the files.
Step 1: Check where minergate.exe runs from and stop it
minergate.exeis the part you can see, and its location tells you whether it belongs there. Right-click it on the Processes page of Task Manager and choose Open file location, then right-click the file > Properties > Digital Signatures to see who signed it.An unsigned file, or one in a user folder such as
%AppData%, is the one to remove: end the task, then delete the file.Note the folder name, because the same folder usually holds its other files. This is the same in Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Full procedure with screenshots: Close a frozen app (Task Manager, Force Quit) On uGetFix
Step 2: Delete scheduled tasks that bring it back
Open Task Scheduler from the Start menu and click Task Scheduler Library. Select each task you do not recognise and read the Actions tab:
- a task that starts a file in
%AppData%or%Temp% - runs
powershellwith a long encoded line - opens a web address belongs to CPU miner or a similar program
Right-click such a task and choose Delete, and check the subfolders too. Leave tasks from Microsoft, your PC's maker and programs you use. Task Scheduler is the same in Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Windows 11: Task Scheduler Library, the task selected, the Actions tab shows the file it runs. Full procedure with screenshots: Remove what malware leaves behind in Windows
- a task that starts a file in
Step 3: Remove it from startup
Whatever CPU miner installed usually starts with Windows. Open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, go to Startup apps in Windows 11 or the Startup tab in Windows 10, and disable what you do not know, starting with entries that have an empty Publisher column.
Open file location on the right-click menu shows the file, which helps you decide and tells you what to delete later. Disabling is safe: if something you need stops working, switch it back on.
Full procedure with screenshots: Stop apps from opening at startup On uGetFix
Step 4: Turn Microsoft Defender back on and remove its exclusions
CPU miner turns protection off or adds exclusions so that Defender ignores it. In Windows Security > Virus & threat protection, open Manage settings and switch Real-time protection, Cloud-delivered protection and Tamper Protection back on.
Then open Add or remove exclusions at the bottom of that page and remove whatever you did not add yourself, for example a folder in
%AppData%or an entire drive. These pages look the same in Windows 11 and Windows 10.Full procedure with screenshots: Turn off Microsoft Defender protection for a moment On uGetFix
Step 5: Delete the folders left behind
What the uninstaller leaves behind is usually in the user folders. Open File Explorer, switch on View > Show > Hidden items (in Windows 10 View > Hidden items), and go through
%LocalAppData%,%AppData%, %ProgramData% and the two Program Files folders.Sort by Date modified and delete folders that appeared together with the problem and belong to no program you use. Folders with random names that hold
.exe,.dll, .js or .ps1 files are the strongest sign.Full procedure with screenshots: Remove what malware leaves behind in Windows
Step 6: Scan the PC, then run the offline scan
Open Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Scan options, run a Full scan and remove everything it finds. Then select Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) and click Scan now: the PC restarts and scans before Windows loads, which finds files that hide while Windows runs.
Save your work first, because the offline scan takes about 15 minutes. Both scans are built into Windows 11 and Windows 10, and a second scanner from another vendor is a useful extra opinion.
Windows 11: Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Scan options. Full procedure with screenshots: Run a Microsoft Defender Offline scan
Instructions for each browser and system
The detailed steps for every browser and system this guide covers. Open the one you use.
Manual removal using Safe Mode
Important! →
Manual removal guide might be too complicated for regular computer users. It requires advanced IT knowledge to be performed correctly (if vital system files are removed or damaged, it might result in full Windows compromise), and it also might take hours to complete. Therefore, we highly advise using the automatic method provided above instead.
Step 1. Access Safe Mode with Networking
Manual malware removal should be best performed in the Safe Mode environment.
Windows 7 / Vista / XP
- Click Start > Shutdown > Restart > OK.
- When your computer becomes active, start pressing F8 button (if that does not work, try F2, F12, Del, etc. - it all depends on your motherboard model) multiple times until you see the Advanced Boot Options window.
- Select Safe Mode with Networking from the list.
Windows 10 / Windows 8
- Right-click on Start button and select Settings.
- Scroll down to pick Update & Security.
- On the left side of the window, pick Recovery.
- Now scroll down to find Advanced Startup section.
- Click Restart now.
- Select Troubleshoot.
- Go to Advanced options.
- Select Startup Settings.
- Press Restart.
- Now press 5 or click 5) Enable Safe Mode with Networking.
Step 2. Shut down suspicious processes
Windows Task Manager is a useful tool that shows all the processes running in the background. If malware is running a process, you need to shut it down:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard to open Windows Task Manager.
- Click on More details.
- Scroll down to Background processes section, and look for anything suspicious.
- Right-click and select Open file location.
- Go back to the process, right-click and pick End Task.
- Delete the contents of the malicious folder.
Step 3. Check program Startup
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard to open Windows Task Manager.
- Go to Startup tab.
- Right-click on the suspicious program and pick Disable.
Step 4. Delete virus files
Malware-related files can be found in various places within your computer. Here are instructions that could help you find them:
- Type in Disk Cleanup in Windows search and press Enter.
- Select the drive you want to clean (C: is your main drive by default and is likely to be the one that has malicious files in).
- Scroll through the Files to delete list and select the following:
Temporary Internet Files
Downloads
Recycle Bin
Temporary files - Pick Clean up system files.
- You can also look for other malicious files hidden in the following folders (type these entries in Windows Search and press Enter):
%AppData%
%LocalAppData%
%ProgramData%
%WinDir%
After you are finished, reboot the PC in normal mode.
Access your website securely from any location
When you work on the domain, site, blog, or different project that requires constant management, content creation, or coding, you may need to connect to the server and content management service more often. The best solution for creating a tighter network could be a dedicated/fixed IP address.
If you make your IP address static and set to your device, you can connect to the CMS from any location and do not create any additional issues for the server or network manager that needs to monitor connections and activities. VPN software providers like can help you with such settings and offer the option to control the online reputation and manage projects easily from any part of the world.
Recover files after data-affecting malware attacks
While much of the data can be accidentally deleted due to various reasons, malware is one of the main culprits that can cause loss of pictures, documents, videos, and other important files.
More serious malware infections lead to significant data loss when your documents, system files, and images get encrypted. In particular, ransomware is is a type of malware that focuses on such functions, so your files become useless without an ability to access them.
Even though there is little to no possibility to recover after file-locking threats, some applications have features for data recovery in the system. In some cases, can also help to recover at least some portion of your data after data-locking virus infection or general cyber infection.
From our report of Jul 2021 · not reviewed since
Identify and remove CPU Miner from your computer
Infiltration of malware might be hard to notice.
However, if you are dealing with these problems, you might need to proceed with CPU Miner removal:
To stop these activities and remove CPU Miner from the computer, you have to use a reputable malware removal program. Install new or update your current antivirus and run a full system scan. All major security vendors are capable of detecting and eliminating cryptocurrency miners.
However, our team highly recommends using either or . If you have some difficulties with malware removal, please follow the instructions given below. In some cases, trojans might block installation or access to security software to prevent elimination.
However, you can still disable the virus. You should also think about the state of your machine and run to repair any occurring damage.
- the general sluggishness of the computer;
- an increased amount of ads, pop-ups, and banners appearing on the browser;
- browser redirects to tech support scams, fake updates, or other questionable websites;
- suspicious processes running in the Task Manager;
- installation of unknown programs or extensions.
Questions about CPU miner
Can minergate.exe damage my computer?
A miner does not usually destroy files, but running the processor or graphics card at full load for weeks raises temperatures, wears out fans and shortens laptop batteries. It also makes the PC slower and raises the electricity bill.
The bigger risk is what came with it: miners are often installed by loaders or bundled with cracks that also drop password stealers. That is why removing minergate.exe should be followed by a full offline scan, and, if the PC shows other signs, by changing the passwords saved in your browsers.
How do I make sure minergate.exe is really gone?
Restart the PC, leave it idle for half an hour without opening Task Manager, then check whether the fan is quiet and the processor load is low. Open Task Manager afterwards and look for minergate.exe or a new name with the same behaviour.
Check Task Scheduler and the Startup list again for entries pointing to the old folder. Finally, open Windows Security and confirm that real-time protection is on and that no exclusions were added. A clean offline scan together with a quiet idle PC is a good sign the miner is gone.
Can I just delete minergate.exe?
You can, but it is rarely enough. minergate.exe is the visible part of CPU miner; a scheduled task, a service or a startup entry usually starts it again, and some versions restore the file within minutes. Deleting it while it runs may also fail.
Run the Microsoft Defender offline scan instead, which removes the file and its startup entries before Windows loads. Then check Task Scheduler and Startup apps for anything still pointing to the old location. Restart afterwards and confirm the file does not return.
What should I do about my accounts?
Treat them as possibly exposed while CPU miner was active. The reports only describe minergate.exe using the processor or graphics card at full load, but there is no analysis yet that rules out data theft, and many infections like this one come bundled with a stealer.
After the clean-up, use a phone or another computer to change your e-mail password first, then banking, shopping and social accounts. End all active sessions in each account's security page and turn on two-step verification with an authenticator app. If you use crypto wallets on the PC, move the funds to a new wallet created on a clean device.
Should I reset my PC because of CPU miner?
Only if the signs point to deeper access. Reset when you see minergate.exe using the processor or graphics card at full load again after removal, when Windows Security cannot start or update, when remote access tools you did not install keep appearing, or when you simply cannot trust the PC any more.
Otherwise, the plan in this guide plus an offline scan is enough. If you do reset, choose Remove everything and Cloud download for a fresh copy of Windows, restore only documents and photos, and reinstall programs from their official sites. Change important passwords from the clean system afterwards.
Should I scan my other computers too?
It is a good idea, even for malware that does not spread by itself. The same download, USB stick or loader may have been used on other PCs in the household, and shared folders can carry files between them.
Run a full scan followed by the Microsoft Defender offline scan on each Windows PC that shared drives or files with the infected one. Do not copy programs or installers from the infected PC until it is clean, and change Wi-Fi and router passwords if they were saved on it.
How much electricity does a miner use?
It depends on the hardware and how hard the miner runs, so there is no single figure. A miner that keeps a desktop processor or graphics card busy around the clock can noticeably raise a household power bill over a month, and laptops lose battery life fast.
Some miners limit themselves to part of the available power to stay unnoticed, which lowers the cost but also hides the problem longer. Removing it is the only fix. Afterwards, idle use should fall back to a few percent.
Can I just delete the file Windows Security found?
Let Windows Security handle it instead. When it finds CPU miner, choose Remove or Quarantine; the scanner also removes related startup entries and tasks that a manual delete would miss. Deleting a running file by hand often fails, and many threats restore themselves from a second copy.
After the removal, run the Microsoft Defender offline scan, which works before Windows starts and catches parts that hide while Windows runs. Then check Task Scheduler for leftovers. Restart afterwards and check that the detection does not return.
Where does CPU miner come from?
We cannot name a source for CPU miner yet, because no one has traced its distribution in public. In the cases we see, a cryptominer most often comes with pirated software, activators, game mods and cheats, or with downloads from sites that repackage free programs. Removable drives are another route for self-spreading kinds.
Your own history is the best clue: what did you install or plug in shortly before you first noticed minergate.exe using the processor or graphics card at full load? Whatever it was should be removed together with the malware and never reinstalled from the same place.
Will Fortect remove CPU miner?
Fortect scans Windows for malware and unwanted programs and repairs the system files and settings they change, and its free scan shows what it finds on your PC before you decide anything.
For CPU miner, follow the plan above as well: the browser steps take back permissions and settings that no scanner treats as a threat, and uninstalling the program that brought it removes the source.
Run Microsoft Defender's full scan and, if anything was found, its offline scan as a second opinion. If the symptoms are gone after the plan and both scans are clean, there is nothing more to do.
Sources
- Wired: Cryptojacking Has Gotten Out of Control (read October 6, 2026)
- Dieviren: Dieviren (read October 6, 2026)
- Silicon Republic: UK and US government websites hit by cryptocurrency-mining malware (read October 6, 2026)
- Ars Technica: Websites use your CPU to mine cryptocurrency even when you close your browser (read October 6, 2026)
- FTC: How to recognize, remove and avoid malware (read October 6, 2026)