What is crss.exe
crss.exe is a malicious process that you may notice running on your computer. It purposely resembles the legitimate csrss.exe process which belongs to Microsoft. The crss.exe process is detected by multiple anti-virus programs as a trojan. In the majority of cases, Trojans are pretty silent infections and don’t show any overly obvious signs of being present. So noticing it without anti-virus software may be difficult. The process is clearly visible in the Task Manager but it might not necessarily catch your attention as we doubt you are familiar with all running processes. If you notice it running when checking Task Manager, we strongly suggest you immediately scan your computer with anti-virus software to determine whether an infection is present and if it’s necessary to delete crss.exe.
If the trojan goes undetected by you, it could spy on your browsing activities, steal your login credentials, expose you to malicious advertisements, download additional malware, etc. Essentially, having a trojan installed puts your computer in serious danger. Users usually pick up such infections by opening malicious email attachments, downloading something from unsafe sources such as torrents, clicking on malicious ads or links. Continue reading to learn how you can prevent future infections by developing good browsing habits.
Trojan distribution methods
It’s pretty common for users to infect their computers by simply not having good browsing habits. A simple case of opening the wrong email attachment, downloading a torrent, or clicking on a malicious ad could lead to serious malware infection. But fortunately, the majority of malware is entirely avoidable.
Malware is very often distributed via emails. Malicious actors purchase leaked email addresses and proceed to send them spam emails with malicious attachments. Those emails are rarely sophisticated enough to convince more experienced users but those encountering such emails for the first time may not notice anything suspicious. Spam emails carrying malware often try to resemble official correspondence, with senders pretending to be from known/famous companies. The emails are full of grammar and spelling errors, and that is one of the main signs that you are dealing with a spam email. If a legitimate company or organization were to send you an email and an attachment you would need to open, the email would not have mistakes because that looks unprofessional. You would also not be addressed with a generic Dear User/Member/Customer, as you are in spam emails. As a precaution, we always recommend that users scan unsolicited email attachments with VirusTotal or anti-malware software.
You can also pick up malware by downloading from torrents. Torrents sites aren’t exactly regulated, and while malicious content is deleted from most of them, it’s still possible to download malware accidentally. It’s very common for malware to be disguised as a torrent for a movie, episode of a TV series, game, software, etc. If you insist on downloading via torrents, at least make sure you download safe files.
Finally, when visiting high-risk websites, avoid clicking on ads and have adblocker enabled. Many sites host low-quality ads that can expose you to malicious content.
Is crss.exe malware
Because the names are very similar, confusing the legitimate csrss.exe with a potentially malicious crss.exe is very easy. If when you open Task Manager, you see csrss.exe, you are likely looking at the legitimate process. As a precaution, right-click on the csrss.exe process and press Properties. In the General tab, check the location. The legitimate csrss.exe will be located at C:\Windows\System32, and it will say Client Server Runtime Process in the Description box. If the location is \AppData or \Temp folders, you are likely dealing with something malicious.
Malicious processes usually have high CPU usage, which is a good indication that malware is present. So is a suddenly sluggish computer, programs crashing and taking ages to launch, and your computer just generally acting weird. If you notice any of these symptoms, you should scan your computer with anti-malware software immediately, as all kinds of malware may be present.
crss.exe removal
You will need to use reliable anti-malware software to detect and remove crss.exe. Since this may be a serious infection, you should not attempt to manually uninstall crss.exe as you could cause even more damage.
Offers
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