Recently, I’ve seen many people online say their computers have slowed down and the fans have been spinning like crazy—only to find out they were infected with a mining virus. This kind of thing is actually more common than you think. I decided to put together a practical protection guide to help everyone avoid getting fooled.

First, you need to understand what a mining virus is. Simply put, hackers secretly install a program on your computer and then use your CPU and graphics card to mine cryptocurrencies, so they can make money themselves. Some viruses are downloaded directly as files onto your hard drive, while others hide on websites and run as scripts; antivirus software often can’t handle them.

How do you tell if you’ve been mined? I’ve compiled a few obvious signs. First, check whether your graphics card is overloaded. The most direct manifestation is that the fan noise is especially loud, and it feels extremely hot to the touch. You can also use free tools like GPU-Z to check real-time load. Second, look at your computer’s performance. If you open Task Manager and find that CPU usage stays at 60% or higher for a long time, you should be on alert. Another sign is that memory consumption suddenly increases, network traffic is abnormal, your browser frequently freezes or automatically closes tabs, and even you notice some unfamiliar process names in Task Manager (for example, some kind of random-gibberish .exe).

Once you confirm an infection, the cleanup steps should be done in stages. Step one: use antivirus software to run a full-system scan, and then run CCleaner to clean system junk. But that still isn’t enough, because some cunning viruses may add themselves to a trusted list, or hide themselves before Task Manager can even display them.

I recommend doing a manual check as well. Press Win+R to open the Run window, type regedit to enter the Registry Editor. Use Ctrl+F to search for suspicious process names—these are usually made up of random characters. After you find them, delete them all, then restart your computer. If you still have problems, go to Task Scheduler (type taskschd.msc), and check the “Triggers” and “Actions” tabs to see whether there are suspicious tasks that automatically start every time the computer boots. Right-click to disable or delete them.

For more complex malware, I recommend using deep-scanning tools like Dr.Web or AnVir. Before you clean, it’s best to back up your system just in case.

Protection is more important than cleanup. My advice is to reinstall your system with a clean Windows image on a regular basis (every 2 to 3 months). Install antivirus software and keep it updated. Before downloading programs, check relevant information, and scan all downloaded files. Turn on firewall and antivirus protection when browsing the web, and close the connection when you encounter dangerous websites. Add some known malicious sites to your hosts file (there are ready-made lists on GitHub).

A few small details are also important. Don’t run operations casually with administrator privileges, because that allows the mining program to obtain the highest permissions, making it harder to remove. Use secpol.msc to set the software execution policy so that only trusted programs are allowed to run. Set a strong password on your router and disable remote access. Don’t visit suspicious sites that don’t have SSL certificates (secure sites show an https icon). If possible, turn off JavaScript in your browser settings—this can block a lot of malicious code that runs via web pages. In Chrome, the privacy and security settings include a mining detection feature, and I recommend turning it on.

Also, installing an ad blocker such as AdBlock or uBlock can help, as it can filter out some ad banners that hide mining scripts.

To be honest, cleaning up after being mined is indeed a hassle, but as long as you master these methods, you can handle it yourself. The key is prevention: regularly check your system status, so you can avoid mining-related trouble at its root.