WinstarNssmMiner Trojan Removal

This article can help you to remove WinstarNssmMiner Virus. The step by step removal works for every version of Microsoft Windows.

WinstarNssmMiner is a nasty Trojan horse which steals your computer resources. The virus sneaks into your OS unnoticed and corrupts everything. The virus modifies your Registry, corrupts essential files, and starts its own processes. Once settled, it takes control of your machine. The Trojan forces your device to perform accounting services for the Monero coin platform. In exchange for its services, your computer gets rewarded with fractions of the coin. The longer it performs, the bigger the profit. The money, however, is not sent to you, but to the crooks’ cyber-wallet. These people are making a fortune while you suffer the side effects. The coin mining process is very intensive. The Trojan takes everything your computer has to offer and leaves nothing for you. This obnoxious intruder causes your computer to perform extremely badly. We are talking about sluggishness, unresponsiveness, program failures, system crashes, and unstable Internet connection. Your device is practically useless. It’s worse than useless! When working, the machine actually consumes an enormous amount of electricity. By stealing your computer resources, the Trojan actually steals real money from you. You will have to pay the consumed energy. Do not tolerate this. Remove the Trojan as soon as possible. We have prepared a manual removal guide which can assist you. Yet, be advised, WinstarNssmMiner will crash your system when you attempt to remove it. This parasite sets its processes as critical, thus, when you stop them, your OS crashes. Therefore, use professional anti-virus tools.

How did I get infected with?

WinstarNssmMiner spreads like wildfire. This virus has managed to infect half a million computers in just three days. And the number is growing rapidly. This leads the experts to believe that the Trojan is spread through corrupted adverts or through heavily trafficked infected websites. It is also possible that the virus is distributed via mass spam email campaigns, corrupted software copies, fake updates, and torrents. The employed distribution methods are quite effective. Yet, there is a catch! As genius as WinstarNssmMiner is, it wouldn’t have infected your computer if you were more vigilant. The key to a secure and infection-free PC is cautious. It doesn’t matter what kind of anti-virus app you have, if you heedlessly visit questionable websites, viruses will eventually make their way to your computer. So, take this infection as a lesson and learn it well. Stay away from torrents and dodgy websites. Download your software from reputable sources only. Be very careful with your inbox. If you receive an unexpected message, take a moment to verify the sender. If the email is supposed to be sent from an organization, go to their official website. Compare the email addresses listed there with the one you have received a letter from. If they don’t match, delete the pretender immediately. Of course, you should keep your software up to date. Especially your anti-virus app.

Why is this dangerous?

WinstarNssmMiner is a nasty parasite. It corrupts your entire system and steals your resources. The parasite forces your machine to mine coins and leaves you with an unsinkable computer. Every app you open takes forever to load. Your Internet connection is slow and unstable, your computer crashes frequently. These issues, however, are nothing compared to the things that happen behind your back. Check your machine. It radiates heat, doesn’t it? As you know, this heat is bad for your hardware. The Trojan, however, does not pause its processes to let your device cool down. Quite the opposite. It uses your CPU at very high temperatures and by doing so, it shortens your CPU’s life significantly. The overheating leads to frequent system crashes, the dreaded Blue Screen of Death and irreversible hardware damage. That is not the end of the stream of bad news. Speaking of heat, we must not forget that it was originally electricity. The more heat your device radiates, the more electricity is consumed, the more you will have to pay. The coin mining process is profitable only if you don’t use your own resources. The crooks are using yours. They are making a mint at your expense. Currently, WinstarNssmMiner has generated about $26,500 USD worth of Monero coins. This is $26,500 worth of resource stolen. The crooks are definitely making a mint. Do not become their sponsor. Do not let them ruin your computer. Remove WinstarNssmMiner ASAP!

Manual WinstarNssmMiner Removal Instructions

The WinstarNssmMiner infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the WinstarNssmMiner infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

STEP 1: Track down WinstarNssmMiner related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate WinstarNssmMiner startup location

STEP 3: Delete WinstarNssmMiner traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down WinstarNssmMiner related processes in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate WinstarNssmMiner startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean WinstarNssmMiner virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

Step 4: Undo the possible damage done by WinstarNssmMiner

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for WinstarNssmMiner, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

 

• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove WinstarNssmMiner Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible virus leftovers or temporary files.