What is Cttune.exe process?

As I have actually pointed out before, Cttune.exe is a coin miner trojan virus. The names of the executive file may be diverse, but the consequences are almost always the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware capacity of your desktop to run this operation. This malware does not pay attention to the fact that you may want to use your device for other tasks – it will consistently use over 80% of your processor power.

Cttune.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally make use of GPU power for their tasks. In that instance, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Cttune.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It often may lead to sad effects.

Crypto mining means the activity 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 strong machine is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of GPUs to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ PCs instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.²

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

How dangerous is the Cttune.exe miner?

First of all, Cttune.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, since all CPU power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your wants, all it focuses on is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that works online.

Cttune.exe Technical Summary.

“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Cttune.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To perform all malevolent operations effectively, it ruins the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent detection. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are added by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be reverted to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

Hardware effects of coin miner activity

Besides slowing down your computer, performing at peak power for long times can cause damage to your device and raise electricity expenses. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

Small and well-protected CPU fan is hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for instance, by the user much earlier before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Cttune.exe can easily lead to GPU failure³. GPUs are also tend to have fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

How did I get Cttune.exe coin miner virus?

Coin miners are one of the most widespread malicious programs among “severe” malware. Adware often functions as a carrier for Cttune.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that around 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Cttune.exe is just among them.⁴

The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

Another way you could get this item on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. People who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a huge lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and get a coin for every setup. Before blaming these guys for hacking and malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much bigger sum for antivirus software as well as new parts for your PC.

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

Eliminating such a virus demands using specific tool. Effective anti-malware program should have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to create no problems with utilization also on weak PCs. Additionally, it is recommended to have on-run security in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for different reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb option that fits all of the discussed characteristics.⁵

Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Cttune.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 computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party applications, along with the majority of non-critical operating system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

Remove Cttune.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.

Spanish Turkish