Explorer.exe Virus

Trojan
by Brandon Skies
May 22, 2023

Explorer.exe

Is Explorer.exe malicious? No, it is not. The legitimate Explorer.exe file is a secure system process developed by Microsoft for Windows operating systems. However, creators of malware, such as viruses, worms, and Trojans, intentionally use the same file name to evade detection.

2miners.com trojan masquerading as Explorer.exe
The Explorer.exe virus utilizes camouflage to infiltrate the computers of its targets.

Explorer.exe is a malicious computer program that uses disguise to enter its victims’ computers and then launch various harmful processes. Explorer.exe can be described as a Trojan horse virus that can be used differently depending on what the hackers controlling it are after.

Trojan horses have been around for a very long time and it is likely that all of this article’s readers have, at one point or another, heard about this infamous category of malware. However, not all Trojans are the same and while some could easily be detected by most antivirus programs, others, especially newer ones such as Explorer.exe, could silently infect any computer (even those protected by high-quality security programs) and conduct all sorts of harmful actions.

One of the key characteristics of this malware type is that its representatives are quite versatile and can be tasked with the completion of many different criminal goals. At the current moment, the information we have about Explorer.exe doesn’t allow us to confidently tell you the ultimate purpose of this threat, yet we can still give you an idea of what could be expected if this virus enters a given computer.

The Explorer.exe Virus

The versatility of the Trojan Horse viruses oftentimes makes them and the damage they could cause unpredictable, especially when the threat is as new as the Explorer.exe virus. Still, there are certain tendencies of how Trojans tend to be used.

SUMMARY:

NameExplorer.exe
TypeTrojan
Detection Tool

Please follow all the steps below in order to remove Explorer.exe!

How to remove Explorer.exe

  1. First, click the Start Menu on your Windows PC.
  2. Type Programs and Settings in the Start Menu, click the first item, and find Explorer.exe in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select Explorer.exe from the list and click on Uninstall.
  4. Follow the steps in the removal wizard.

If you have a Mac virus, please use our How to remove Ads on Mac guide.

If you have an Android virus, please use our Android Malware Removal guide.

If you have an iPhone virus, please use our iPhone Virus Removal guide.

What we suggest you do first is, check the list of programs that are presently installed on the infected device and uninstall any rogue software that you find there:

  • From the Start Menu, navigate to Control Panel ->>> Programs and Features ->>> Uninstall a Program.
  • Next, carefully search for unfamiliar programs or programs that have been installed recently and could be related to Explorer.exe.
  • If you find any of the programs suspicious then uninstall them if they turn out to be linked to Explorer.exe.
  • If a notification appears on your screen when you try to uninstall a specific questionable program prompting you to just alter it or repair it, make sure you choose NO and complete the steps from the removal wizard.

Remove Explorer.exe from Chrome

  1. Click on the three dots in the right upper corner
  2. Go to more tools
  3. Now select extensions
  4. Remove the Explorer.exe extension
  • Once you open Chrome, click on the three-dots icon to open the browser’s menu, go to More Tools/ More Options, and then to Extensions.
  • Again, find the items on that page that could be linked to the malware and/or that might be causing problems in the browser and delete them.
  • Afterwards, go to this folder: Computer > C: > Users > *Your User Account* > App Data > Local > Google > Chrome > User Data. In there, you will find a folder named Default – you should change its name to Backup Default and restart the PC.
  • Note that the App Data folder is normally hidden so you’d have to first make the hidden files and folders on your PC visible before you can access it.

How to get rid of Explorer.exe on FF/Edge/etc.

  1. Open the browser and select the menu icon.
  2. From the menu, click on the Add-ons button.
  3. Look for the Explorer.exe extension
  4. Get rid of Explorer.exe by removing it from extensions

If using Firefox:

  • Open Firefox
  • Select the three parallel lines menu and go to Add-ons.
  • Find the unwanted add-on and delete it from the browser – if there is more than one unwanted extension, remove all of them.
  • Go to the browser menu again, select Options, and then click on Home from the sidebar to the left.
  • Check the current addresses for the browser’s homepage and new-tab page and change them if they are currently set to address(es) you don’t know or trust.

If using MS Edge/IE:

  • Start Edge
  • Select the browser menu and go to Extensions.
  • Find and uninstall any Edge extensions that look undesirable and unwanted.
  • Select Settings from the browser menu and click on Appearance.
  • Check the new-tab page address of the browser and if it has been modified by the malicious program or another unwanted app, change it to an address that you’d want to be the browser’s new-tab page.

How to Delete Explorer.exe

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the Explorer.exe process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete Explorer.exe
  • Access the Task Manager by pressing together the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys and then selecting Task Manager.
  • Open Processes and there try to find a process with the name of the unwanted software. If you find it, select it with the right button of the mouse and click on the Open File Location option.
  • If you don’t see a malicious process in the Task Manager, look for another suspicious process with an unusual name. It is likely that the unwanted process would be using lots of RAM and CPU so pay attention to the number of resources each process is using.
  • Tip: If you think you have singled out the unwanted process but are not sure, it’s always a good idea to search for information about it on the Internet – this should give you a general idea if the process is a legitimate one from a regular program or from your OS or if it is indeed likely linked to the adware.
  • If you find another suspicious process, open its File Location too.
  • Once in the File Location folder for the suspicious process, start testing all of the files that are stored there by dragging them to our free online scanner available below.
  • Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
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    • If the scanner finds malware in any of the files, return to the Processes tab in the Task Manager, select the suspected process, and then select the End Process option to quit it.
    • Go back to the folder where the files of that process are located and delete all of the files that you are allowed to delete. If all files get deleted normally, exit the folder and delete that folder too. If one or more of the files showed an error message when you tried to delete them, leave them for now and return to try to delete them again once you’ve completed the rest of the guide.

    How to Uninstall Explorer.exe

    1. Click on the home button
    2. Search for Startup Apps
    3. Look for Explorer.exe in there
    4. Uninstall Explorer.exe from Startup Apps by turning it off
    • Now you need to carefully search for and uninstall any Explorer.exe-related entries from the Registry. The easiest way to do this is to open the Registry Editor app (type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter) and then open a Find dialog (CTRL+F key combination) where you have to type the name of the threat. 
    • Perform a search by clicking on the Find Next button and delete any detected results. Do this as many times as needed until no more results are found. 
    • After that, to ensure that there are no remaining entries lined to Explorer.exe in the Registry, go manually to the following directories and delete them:
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Random Directory. 
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run/Random
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main/Random

    What is Explorer.exe virus?

    One particularly common way of using a Trojan virus is disguising the threat as a program many users would willingly download onto their computers. Once the user opens the disguised virus, the Trojan would demand Admin privileges and since the victim doesn’t know he or she is dealing with malware, they are likely to provide the requested privileges. After that, the virus would be free to do anything in the system. Usually, the access given to the malware is used for forcing the computer to carry out tasks such as Bitcoin mining for the hackers or spam email distribution. In those cases, the user is likely to notice the unwanted activities but they’d be powerless to stop them because the Trojan won’t allow it as long as it stays in the system. In most cases, such activities drain the computer’s resources and cause slow-downs, freezes, errors, and, in the more severe cases, BSOD crashes.


    Is Explorer.exe virus dangerous?

    Another common way Trojans are being used nowadays is to secretly deliver Ransomware to victims’ computers. In those cases, the Trojan plays a secondary role and the primary threat is the file-locking Ransomware.
    Some Trojans , like Explorer.exe virus, Altruistic and PoSetup, are able to do spy on their victims. Any sensitive personal information gained by a Trojan could be used in harmful ways that could lead to various unforeseen consequences for the user.
    These examples are only a small portion of all the possible things a Trojan could be used to complete. Even though we can’t tell you what Explorer.exe virus might do if it’s in your machine, we strongly advise you to not wait for the results of the infection. Instead, use the instructions we provide here and remove the threat before it has completed its agenda.


    About the author

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    Brandon Skies

    Brandon is a researcher and content creator in the fields of cyber-security and virtual privacy. Years of experience enable him to provide readers with important information and adequate solutions for the latest software and malware problems.

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