What is Bbb.exe process?

As I have specified in the previous paragraph, Bbb.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file can be diverse, but the impacts are generally the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware power of your desktop to perform this operation. This virus doesn’t care about the fact that you probably want to use your machine for other tasks – it will constantly consume over 80% of your CPU power.

Bbb.exe – Really high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as important as CPU for system work, so Bbb.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It sometimes can cause bad effects.

Crypto mining is a term that means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful computer is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of dozens of GPUs to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.²

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

How dangerous is the Bbb.exe miner?

Firstly, Bbb.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with exceptionally slow performance. Pages can open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.

Bbb.exe Technical Summary.

“Visible” damage is not a single bad thing coin miners do to your PC. Bbb.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your OS. To execute all malevolent operations successfully, it wrecks the security mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent detection. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a lot of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

Hardware effects of coin miner activity

Besides slowing down your computer, running at peak power for a long period of time may trigger damage to your machine as well as raise power bills. Hardware elements are designed to easily get along with high load, but they are good with it only in case when they are in a good shape.

Small and well-protected CPU cooling system is not very easy to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if affected while spinning, for instance, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Bbb.exe virus can easily lead to GPU failure³. Video cards are also prone to have fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable situation when the performance of your video card plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being used in such a way.

How did I get Bbb.exe coin miner virus?

Coin miners are the most prevalent malicious programs among “major” malware. Adware frequently serves as a carrier for Bbb.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that about 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Bbb.exe is just one of them.⁴

The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

Another way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the untrustworthy site as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a very big temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for each installation. Before blaming these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.

How to remove the Bbb.exe miner from my PC?

Eliminating such a virus involves the use of specific program. Appropriate security tool must have high capability at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak systems. In addition, it is recommended to have proactive protection in your protection tool – to halt the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for various reasons. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that reason. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect option that fits all of the discussed characteristics.⁵

Prior to the malware removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Bbb.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU power, it is needed to halt it before launching the security program. Otherwise, your scan will last for years, even though the GridinSoft program is pretty lightweight.

Booting the PC into Safe Mode with Networking

Press the Start button, then choose Power, and click on Reboot while holding the Shift key on the keyboard.

Windows will reboot into recovery mode. In that mode, choose Troubleshoot→ Startup Settings→ Safe Mode with Networking. Press the corresponding button on your keyboard to choose that option.

When your system is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-critical Windows components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.

Remove Bbb.exe coin miner virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. You can use this anti-malware program for free during its 6-day trial period. In that term, all functions are available, and it takes no payments to remove malware from your system.

After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

When the scan is finished, press the Clean Now button to remove all detected elements from your system. This procedure takes less than a minute.

Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

References

1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
4. Read more about various malware type on GridinSoft Threat Encyclopedia.
5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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