Recently noticed that many people are not even aware of how serious the problem of hidden mining viruses is. I personally encountered a situation where my friend's computer was running strangely slow, and it turned out that a virus had sneaked in, using the PC's power to mine cryptocurrency. The antivirus didn't catch it, and getting rid of it was not so easy.

In general, miner viruses are a type of trojans that secretly infiltrate the Windows system and start consuming your computer's resources for their own benefit. There are two main types: one embeds itself into websites as a script (cryptojacking), and the other installs as a regular program that runs every time the PC is turned on. The second type is especially dangerous because it can also steal wallet data.

Why are these viruses dangerous? If such a parasite has settled in your system, your passwords could be stolen, and data deleted. Plus, the graphics card and CPU work at maximum capacity, which is especially critical for laptops—they can break down after just a few hours of intensive hidden mining.

How to check your PC for miners? You need to pay attention to several signals. If the graphics card is making loud noise, the fan is spinning wildly, and it’s hot—this is the first sign. You can check using the GPU-Z program. If the computer starts lagging, open the Task Manager and look at the CPU load. If it stays at 60% or higher without apparent reason—it's time to worry. Also, watch for high RAM usage, strange file deletions, increased internet traffic, and unknown processes in the Task Manager.

Start checking your PC for miners with a standard antivirus. Run a full system scan. But this doesn’t always work because new viruses can disguise themselves and add themselves to the trusted programs list. Therefore, after the antivirus scan, run Ccleaner or an equivalent tool—it helps clean up the junk left by viruses.

If you want to perform a deeper check for miners, you need to delve into the registry. Press Win+R, type regedit, and search for suspicious processes using Ctrl+F. Usually, miner names consist of random characters. Delete everything found and reboot.

Another method is to check the Task Scheduler. Win+R, type taskschd.msc. Open the scheduler library and see which processes are set to run automatically at startup. If you see anything suspicious, disable or delete that task altogether. For more thorough checking, use AnVir Task Manager—it’s specifically designed to find hidden auto-start entries.

To combat more complex viruses, I recommend Dr. Web—it performs a deep system scan. Before removing the virus, it’s best to create a backup for recovery in case something goes wrong.

To avoid falling into this situation, prevention is key. Install a clean Windows image and restore it every 2-3 months. Regularly update antivirus databases. Check information about programs before downloading, and scan all downloaded files with antivirus. Work on the internet with antivirus and firewall enabled.

Add dangerous sites to the hosts file—ready-made lists are available on GitHub. Do not run actions as administrator unless necessary—if you launch a miner with admin rights, it will gain full access to resources. Windows has the utility secpol.msc, where you can create policies for limited software use. Set a strong password on your router and disable its discovery. Block JavaScript in your browser—this prevents malicious code from running via web pages. Chrome has built-in protection against mining—enable it in privacy settings.

Additionally, install AdBlock or uBlock to filter out ad banners that may contain malicious scripts. And most importantly—do not visit dubious sites without an SSL certificate (https). Following these recommendations will significantly reduce the risk of infection.