Msvc.exe CPU Miner

The Msvc.exe CPU Miner is a Trojan that generates a digital currency by using your PC's hardware passively. Although this 'mining' feature isn't always unsafe, cybercrooks can employ it with threats like the Msvc.exe CPU Miner to abuse other users' systems for their profits. Use your default anti-malware products to identify and uninstall the Msvc.exe CPU Miner, which may cause various side effects unintentionally but doesn't display a user interface.

A Trojan with an Imperfect Miners' Toolkit

Digital money-mining payloads are no longer a novelty among threat actors, who add this feature as an 'extra' to Trojan campaigns that are often aiming for more high-stake targets than the mere generation of Bitcoins routinely. However, their tactics and implementation methods vary between the cybercrooks, and the clues of a Trojan miner infection aren't always consistent or visible. For instance, the Msvc.exe CPU Miner is a new example of this category of threat that targets a different part of the infected PC's hardware while also pretending to be related to a legitimate program.

The Msvc.exe CPU Miner uses a combination of Registry edits and scheduled tasks to guarantee that it launches with Windows, although the user will not see a UI while it's active. If the user observes it from the Task Manager or another memory process-viewing application, the Msvc.exe CPU Miner shows itself as a component of the Microsoft's Visual Studio: a program for developing Windows applications. Unlike rootkit-classified threats, the Msvc.exe CPU Miner doesn't inject this process into another program's one to hide it.

When it runs, the Msvc.exe CPU Miner uses the system's central processing unit to generate cryptocurrency, which it uploads to the threat actor's wallet automatically. The original user sees no benefit from this feature and may surmise its abuse by noting extremely high percentages of use in Task Manager's CPU field indirectly, as well as the Msvc.exe CPU Miner's unauthorized network activity. Malware experts also are seeing cases of the Msvc.exe CPU Miner reinstalling itself with the help of an additional threat, especially if its removal is only partial (such as deleting the 'msvc.exe' executable).

Closing the Mine Shaft that's Dug into Your PC

The Msvc.exe CPU Miner doesn't display the stealth-related features of a rootkit, banking Trojan, or other, equally high-level threat. However, the long-term overuse of the CPU can cause it to fail and may instigate automatic system reboots, freezes, 'blue screen' errors, software crashes, and other errors. Responding to infections of the Msvc.exe CPU Miner's classification without significant delay is important for the health of the user's hardware, and failing to do so can necessitate replacing the physical component.

Since the Msvc.exe CPU Miner is in live distribution and includes components that assist with reinstalling it, victims should use comprehensive disinfection strategies for restoring their computers. Ideally, users should reboot with Safe Mode selected for minimizing the possible interference of other threats and, then, have their preferred anti-malware product scan the PC to uninstall the Msvc.exe CPU Miner. Prompt removal should prevent the Msvc.exe CPU Miner from causing permanent CPU failure.

As potentially damaging as the Msvc.exe CPU Miner may be, its payload could be worse than it is. PC owners who understand the default constraints of hardware usage have much better odds than the ignorant of keeping their wasted time from turning into a cybercrook's change.