What is Lklklk.exe process?

As I have mentioned earlier, Lklklk.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the executive file can be different, however, the effects are usually the same. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware power of your personal computer to run this operation. This virus does not take note of the fact that you may want to use your computer for other activities – it will always use over 80% of your CPU power.

Lklklk.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU usage

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often utilized on 100%. It is not as critical as processor for system work, so Lklklk.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can result in bad consequences.

Crypto mining is a term that means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a high-end machine is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms are usually constructed of dozens of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks 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 Lklklk.exe miner?

Initially, Lklklk.exe virus makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, since all CPU power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.

Lklklk.exe Technical Summary.

“Visible” damage is not a solitary bad activity coin miners do to your system. Lklklk.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To execute all malicious operations effectively, it ruins the security components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious mining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.

Hardware effects of coin miner activity

Besides making your PC slow, performing at peak level for a long period of time may cause damage to your device as well as increase power expenses. Hardware components are designed to easily deal 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 quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, 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 very high load caused by Lklklk.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure³. Graphic cards are also tend to have fast wearing when used for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely an undesirable situation when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% just after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

How did I get Lklklk.exe coin miner virus?

Coin miners are the most common malicious programs through “severe” viruses. Adware frequently acts as a carrier for Lklklk.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which contain a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that about 30% of all viruses spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Lklklk.exe is right with them.⁴

The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

Another way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the unreliable website as a part of a program. Users who spread hacked versions of favored programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to earn money. For this reason, there is a huge temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for every installation. Before blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying 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 as well as new parts for your computer.

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

Removing such a virus involves making use of special tool. Appropriate anti-malware program should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak PCs. Furthermore, it is recommended to have on-run security in your protection solution – to stop the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these features for various factors. 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 each of the discussed characteristics.⁵

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

Remove Lklklk.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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