DirectionsOnline Search Redirects - How to remove

DirectionsOnline is a somewhat deceptive browser extension that, while offering some useful functions, is ultimately redundant, risky, and increases your exposure to malicious content online. DirectionsOnline forces people to use the MyWay search engine which is one of the most ad-filled engines around. Having this add-on installed is also a symptom of poor cybersecurity, with DirectionsOnline being distributed in the same ways that serious malware is.

Honestly, if you installed DirectionsOnline, time to check and tighten the security of your software and your browsing habits. This extension, developed by Mindspark,  has many siblings: DirectionsBuilder, FindYourMaps, MyTransitMapper, and many others. There are hundreds of similar clone extensions and there are even people who collect them as a hobby. Like the other hijackers, DirectionsOnline is not well-liked by antivirus programs, setting of quite a few alarms. And no wonder — DirectionsOnline makes excessive modifications to your browser, this is a reason to be concerned.

How DirectionsOnline is installed

Most people first find DirectionsOnline thanks to ads. Here are a couple of examples:

The ads are generally posted on websites like browser game, news, filesharing, and freeware download sites. Be careful about ads, there are new cases regularly of some being compromised by criminals to deliver ransomware, miners, and banking trojans.

The second way that DirectionsOnline is installed is by people finding it through search. People search for Google’s mapping and navigating services, like Waze and Google Maps. It’s not clear why they install DirectionsOnline instead of the things that they searched for.

Features of DirectionsOnline

Very briefly, DirectionsOnline does these things:

• Provide a box to search for addresses to plan a route
• Provide links to map-themed websites
• Replace your search engine with MyWay and Ask
• Deliver you ads based on your search history

DirectionsOnline offers a way to search for a route from one address to another right in the new tab page. After typing the addresses, you’re forwarded to MyWay’s map page. Whether this actually saves any time is debatable, since you’re performing the same steps you would be in, for example, Google’s default setup, even if the order is a bit off.

DirectionsOnline also offers a few links to map-related websites, which might be useful to you (though some of the links that are outdated, or specific to certain countries), as well as a search box in the middle of the new tab page that uses MyWay. This search engine is functional, but the number of ads can be staggering. Saying that I sometimes saw as many ads as results might not sound like a really big deal (though it definitely is), but remember that the ads are big, with child links and elaborate layouts, so they take up twice the space that normal results do. And often they’re not very relevant to what I’m searching for, resulting in time wasted scrolling down, looking for actual results. Still, it’s a functional search engine and you can use it if you want to without being in much danger.

Your private data might be in danger, but it’s likely only used to deliver ads based on your behavior. Targeted advertising is more likely to be effective than ads that weren’t recommended based on your search history and browsing habits, which is why that data is so useful to advertisers. Taking over your search engine is a very good opportunity for DirectionsOnline’s developers to see what you get up to online and what products you might be interested in.

Remove DirectionsOnline

If you think that you have adware that pushed DirectionsOnline on you (that happens sometimes — hijackers being installed by adware), or just want to make sure that no malicious programs are installed on your computer, go ahead and perform a scan with Spyhunter, or download another program. In all honesty, your installed antivirus should detect PUPs, unless you neglected to update it. Some viruses also cripple the antivirus that they find by deleting previous updates or only install on machines that don’t have strong antivirus programs installed. Viruses are getting more and more sophisticated.

DirectionsOnline can be removed very easily, and the illustrated guide below has specific instructions for each browser. Luckily, browsers try to make it very easy to remove extensions and more difficult to install them because they’re so incredibly easy to abuse and be made malicious.

The installation process of browser hijackers (including DirectionsOnline) is often abused to chain installations of multiple extensions to make people believe that they have no choice but to install, for example, Search extension by Ask (which has some problematic permissions, like being able to read and change your data on all the sites that you visit, which actually includes passwords). So, be careful out there and only install extensions that have trustworthy, honest developers, modest and reasonable permissions, and are actually useful.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove DirectionsOnline extension

How to remove DirectionsOnline using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like DirectionsOnline Search Redirects install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to DirectionsOnline . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make DirectionsOnline Search Redirects easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove DirectionsOnline from macOS

Delete DirectionsOnline Search Redirects from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the DirectionsOnline app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopRemove malicious extensions from Internet Explorer

• Press on the Gear icon→Manage Add-ons.
  
• Go through Toolbars and extensions. Remove everything related to DirectionsOnline Search Redirects and items you do not know that are made not by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle or Adobe.
  
• Close the Options.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to DirectionsOnline, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Press on the Gear icon->Internet Options.
  
• Choose the Advanced tab and click on the Reset button.
  
• Select a “Delete personal settings” checkbox and click on the Reset button.
  
• Click on the Close button on the confirmation box, then close your browser.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

TopRemoving DirectionsOnline Search Redirects from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to DirectionsOnline. Click on the trash bin icon next to DirectionsOnline Search Redirects or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to DirectionsOnline, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
  
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on the Reset settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

TopRemoving DirectionsOnline Search Redirects from Firefox

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything DirectionsOnline related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to DirectionsOnline Search Redirects, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove DirectionsOnline Search Redirects from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to DirectionsOnline. Click on the "Remove" icon next to DirectionsOnline Search Redirects or other add-ons you want to remove.

• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.

• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.

• Restart Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving DirectionsOnline from Safari (Mac OS X)

• Click on the Safari menu.
• Choose Preferences.
  
• Click on the Extensions Tab.
• Click on the Uninstall button near the DirectionsOnline Search Redirects. Remove all other unknown or suspicious entries too. If you are not sure whether you need the extension or not, you can simply uncheck the Enable check-box to disable the extension temporarily.
  
• Restart Safari.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to DirectionsOnline, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari.
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.