Cryptocurrencies have had a widespread diffusion, with more and more people willing to "undermine" or exchange this virtual currency in the hope that the value will skyrocket and the accumulated coins will be resold for gold. The most famous currency is certainly Bitcoin, but there are many other cryptocurrencies that can be used.
Cryptocurrency miners mainly use video cards to obtain virtual currency, but some attackers are ready to exploit other people's resources (even remotely) to get rich behind the poor users who use free software.
We find out in this guide how to recognize free programs that undermine Bitcoin and what countermeasures to take .
READ ALSO -> Block sites that do online cryptocurrency mining
How to find free programs that undermine Bitcoin
The free programs that undermine Bitcoins have a hidden component that starts at the right time (often activated remotely) as soon as the ideal conditions for mining arise.
It is not always necessary to start the program to start the component that undermines cryptocurrency: this component will do everything to start automatically, even if we do not use the program with which it is linked (even uninstalling often does not help, leaving the mining component installed).
It may happen to discover it by pure chance, perhaps while we play or see a movie on the Internet, noticing slowdowns or small freezes, almost imperceptible.
If we suspect that a free program is undermining Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, we can only catch them on opening the Task Manager (the dear and good old Task Manager) by right clicking on the bottom bar of Windows 10.
Open the task manager, click the More details button and immediately check the GPU column in the processes (present in the latest version of Windows 10 when there is a discrete video card).
We will see a GPU value of 50% or more (in many cases close to 100%), even without any graphics program or game started.
In this case we are most likely victims of a program that undermines Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies during the inactivity of the PC or while we are engaged in something else and we do not occupy graphic resources; this program (or its component designed for mining) uses our video card for its purposes, generating cryptocurrency for the developer.
Then find out immediately which program it is or find the component that undermines cryptocurrency by clicking on the GPU column, ordering the processes shown in the Task Manager for GPU consumption and finally, once you have identified the process, right-clicking on it and using the Open file path entry.
You will thus discover where the component that exploits the video card without our knowledge and the program that seeks to finance itself with these unlawful means is hidden.
Deleting the components that undermine cryptocurrency could be useless: if the main program is still present it could re-download all the components at the first useful update, in addition no one guarantees us that there are no other components that undermine cryptocurrency not yet activated (as we said earlier components can also be activated remotely by the developer).
The users most subject to this type of attack are those who have a recent video card, ideal for being exploited in order to generate new cryptocurrency on behalf of these attackers.
How to block programs that undermine Bitcoin
Now that we have seen how we recognize the symptoms of a PC hostage of a component that undermines cryptocurrency behind us, let's see in this part of the guide which programs we can use to clean up the PC effectively, so as to stop any unauthorized mining activity .
1) AdwCleaner
The first program that we recommend you to use to clean your PC from programs that undermine Bitcoin is AdwCleaner, downloadable from here -> AdwCleaner .
Once downloaded to the PC, all we have to do is start the scan with the Scan button and wait patiently for the tool to find out all the threats hidden in the PC.
At the end of the scan a text file will be shown in Notepad with the scan results, we will only have to go back to the program interface and click Clean to remove any trace of miner hidden in the system.
2) Kaspersky Security Scan
Another tool that we can use to easily find all the types of miners hidden in the programs is Kaspersky Security Scan, available for free download from here -> Kaspersky Security Scan .
Once our free copy is obtained, we start the tool, click on Computer Scan and wait patiently for the scan to proceed until we find the mining components hidden in the PC.
When finished we click Find solution to remove all threats and components that undermine Bitcoin possibly found.
3) Change antivirus with one effective against miners
These types of threats are not blocked by all types of antivirus, so we risk finding ourselves with the active mining components without the chosen antivirus doing anything to stop them.
Currently the free antivirus that can effectively recognize the mining components on the PC are the following:
- Kaspersky Free
- Avira Free Antivirus
- Convenient Free Antivirus
- Panda Free antivirus
These antiviruses can very well replace the other solutions adopted on the PC in case they cannot eradicate the threat of programs that undermine Bitcoin (for example if you rely on the antivirus integrated in Windows 10, it is better to change it immediately with one of the antiviruses listed above) .
If we want to clean the PC from generic viruses we can read the guide below to find out how.
READ ALSO -> Clean your PC from viruses (and prevent other infections in the future)
