'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin Miner

The 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner is a Trojan that generates Bitcoins for remote attackers by hijacking your hardware. The short-term effects of these attacks include system instability and performance degradation, while the long-term impact can include permanent, physical damage to your computer. Use anti-malware programs to delete the 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner as soon as possible after another threat installs it or even block its installation.

A 'Microsoft'-Approved Program Mining through Your Hardware

Although changes in the Bitcoin market are making cryptocurrency-mining software less efficient than in previous years, Trojans with such payloads remain just as adept at seizing your PC's resources for misappropriated profits. Threat actors with the incentive to abuse other people's hardware for inefficient mining processes still are distributing software like the 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner, which was attacking German and English-speaking PC owners henceforth the summer of 2013. Malware experts have yet to verify any of its latest distribution methods, which could be using EKs like the RIG Exploit Kit or torrents.

The 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner drops two executables in a fake Microsoft software folder in Program Files. Like a majority of Bitcoin-mining Trojans, the 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner launches both executable processes without showing a program user-interface. Victims, who don't check their PC's memory processes regularly, such as by using the Task Manager, may not notice the infection until it begins to causing performance issues.

The 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner generates Bitcoins for a remote attacker's wallet by using your GPU or CPU. Some symptoms related to this exploitation of hardware may include:

• Unrelated programs may stall, lag, or show general, poor performance. Some applications with demanding requirements may be unable to run.
• Your PC's internal fans may overextend themselves audibly.
• Internal temperatures may be too high, even with no other applications in use.

Trojans like the 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner often exclude the safeguards that prevent them from making excessive demands of the PC's hardware. Ignoring a 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner infection can result in permanent damage to critical, and potentially expensive, components.

Time to Give a Bitcoin Miner a Haircut

Since the 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner doesn't inject its memory processes into other applications, victims may be able to detect this threat after examining their active processes. Most anti-malware programs also should detect the 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner as being a threat. Malware analysts warn that time often is a factor in preventing Bitcoin-mining Trojans from causing damages that force the victim to replace their graphics card or central processing unit, without which your OS may be non-functional.

The 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner doesn't install itself and usually will be the byproduct of another threat's gaining access to your computer. Possible infection vectors can include corrupted scripts on a compromised website, e-mail attachments, social network links and illicit downloads. Standard anti-malware products include protection against harmful Bitcoin miners and should delete the 'WindowsTime.exe' Bitcoin miner ordinarily, or Trojans trying to install it, automatically.

It's easy to overlook the less-visible aspects of computer management that can give clues about what software is being run 'under the hood.' Even a brush of familiarity with your PC's memory processes can help provide just enough clues to know when something is wrong, such as a Trojan taking your hardware for itself.