Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker - How to remove

Is Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com website the first thing you see when you open a new tab on a web browser? That obviously means that your computer and web browser is infected with a browser hijacker. This website itself is not a virus – it’s just a consequence of a malicious browser extension called “Maps and Driving Direction”.

Even though it is not a very threatful computer virus, it still can cause various damage – your personal information might be leaked, your computer can get infected with other viruses and your web browsing experience will be definitely worse.

The problem is that a lot of users simply ignore Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com infection and continue to use infected systems. This website looks really nice and usable, therefore users just go with it. This is the worst you can do in a situation like this. If you have discovered that your computer is affected by this malware, the first thing you need to do is to switch to an alternative web browser. You will be able to use it once again when the virus is completely removed.

You might be wondering how to remove Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com, but that’s not so complicated if you have the right assistance. Luckily, we will help you to eliminate Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com as soon as possible and also protect your computer better, so this won’t happen ever again.

Why Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Is Dangerous

We have already mentioned that it’s a huge mistake to think that Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com is not dangerous and use it for web browsing. Actually, it can lead you to various problems. Since it operates as a browser extension, cyber criminals behind it only have to add Maps and Driving Direction extension to one of your web browsers (the one you are using).

Speaking of developers of this infection, it is a well-known company called Polarity Technologies LTD. Actually, it’s not a huge surprise to see a browser hijacker produced by Polarity, because they are responsible for most of such viruses lately.

When this extension is added, they will automatically change your new tab to www.search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com. That’s why this infection might be classified as a new tab hijacker. From this moment you will be visiting this website more often or not, so you are likely to use the web search provided by them.

We highly recommend not to do that because all search queries submitted to Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com will be collected and might be transferred to third parties. So if some of your personal information is revealed to the search, it might be leaked – that’s very dangerous. Also, expect a lot of search results that are not even relevant to your search queries. They are promoting various websites and doing it in a very unfair manner.

Last but not least, other malware can be infiltrated into your computer due to the presence of Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com. That means if you hesitate to remove this tool from your system, chances are it will get infected with more viruses and further complicate this issue.

How Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Managed To Infect Your Computer

Surprisingly, Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com averages more than 2 million visits to this website every month. Those visits come almost exceptionally from the United States and they are all direct. That means users can’t find this website on the web search or navigate to it from social media – they visit it directly because their computers are infected and redirect them to this website.

This tool is presented as a usable and free way to browse various maps more effectively and find routes. It is publicly available at the official Google Chrome extensions store, as well as other browser extensions directories. That means some of the users can install this tool by themselves by thinking that it is really good. However, usually, that’s not the case.

Arguably, the most common method to distribute infection like this is to bundle it with other free software. This practice is employed by other similar viruses like Search.hgomapsandirections.com, Home.mapsnt.com, or Search.yourmapsnow.com. When you download and install some free software from the Internet, Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com can come as an addition that you don’t even want, but it gets installed either way.

Eliminate Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Effectively

Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com removal is the most effective if you scan your computer with Spyhunter. It is an anti-malware application that can easily detect and remove viruses like this one, so it will take just several minutes to detect all files of the malicious extension and automatically delete them. Also, we recommend keeping it installed even after the removal because this program features real-time protection from malware and will ensure that this won’t happen to you again.

After the automatic removal, you will have to restore your personal settings that have been hijacked. To help you do this, we have developed a special guide that can be found below this article, feel free to take a look at it.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Virus Removal

How to remove hmapsanddrivingdirection Browser Hijacker using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker 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 hmapsanddrivingdirection Browser Hijacker . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker 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 hmapsanddrivingdirection Browser Hijacker from macOS

Delete Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the hmapsanddrivingdirection Browser Hijacker 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.

TopHow To remove Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser 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.

How To remove Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker from Firefox:Top

• 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 Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker 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.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to hmapsanddrivingdirection Browser Hijacker, 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.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.

How to remove Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker from Microsoft Edge:Top

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

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

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

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• 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.

How to remove Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall hmapsanddrivingdirection Browser Hijacker and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to Search.hmapsanddrivingdirection.com Browser Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on 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.