Recently, I was helping a friend clean up their computer and discovered that his system was a total mess because of mining malware. That’s when I realized that many people still don’t have enough understanding of this kind of threat. Instead of waiting until something goes wrong and then scrambling, it’s better to learn in advance how to identify and remove it.

First, you need to know that mining malware mainly comes in two types. One is a file directly installed on the computer—every time the system boots, it runs automatically. The other is more covert: it’s hidden in the website’s code, and as soon as you open that page, it gets activated. The latter is especially hard to deal with because antivirus software can’t even find it.

So how do you tell whether your computer has been infected? Based on my experience, watch for these signs. The graphics card will inexplicably spin at full speed, the fan noise will be unusually loud, and it will be extremely hot to the touch. The computer becomes super laggy—you can’t even open a webpage without waiting for ages. In Task Manager, the CPU load is constantly above 60%, and memory usage is going through the roof. Sometimes, you may also find some unknown programs running secretly in the background.

Once you’ve confirmed the infection, the first step to remove the mining malware is to run a full scan with antivirus software. But that’s still not enough, because some malware will add itself to the trusted list, meaning antivirus software simply can’t detect it. So I usually check manually.

Open the Registry Editor (Win+R, type regedit), and then use Ctrl+F to search for suspicious program names. The names of these malicious programs are usually just a bunch of random characters, which makes them easy to recognize. Once you find them, delete them directly and then restart your computer.

There’s another place that’s especially good for hiding things: the Task Scheduler. Open it (Win+R, type taskschd.msc), and go into the “Task Scheduler Library” to look around. Pay attention to tasks that are triggered every time the system starts up, especially those with unfamiliar names. Right-click and choose “Disable” or “Delete,” so the mining malware removal work is done more thoroughly.

After cleaning up, I use tools like CCleaner to scan for junk files again, and then reboot the system. If the problem hasn’t been solved yet, you may need to do a deep scan with professional antivirus software like Dr.Web.

Prevention is always more important than cleanup. My current approach is to regularly update antivirus software, and before downloading anything, I check the source. In my browser settings, I’ve disabled JavaScript, which can effectively block web-based mining scripts. Chrome users can enable mining detection protection in privacy and security settings.

Some details are also crucial: don’t run unknown programs with administrator privileges—this limits the malware’s permissions even if it manages to get in. Set strong passwords, only visit websites that have SSL certificates, and set strict port restrictions on your firewall. You should also change your router password—don’t use the default values.

Sometimes, if the system is already contaminated too badly, the most direct solution is to reinstall Windows. After backing up important files, reinstall using a clean system image to ensure that the mining malware is completely removed. It’s a hassle, but it’s a one-time fix.

In short, dealing with threats like this requires staying alert. Regular checks, timely updates, cautious downloading, and using a reliable antivirus tool—basically, you can reduce risk to the minimum.