Search.searchgmfs1.com virus - How to remove

Search.searchgmfs1.com or Get Directions Quick is a type of threat that will install as the browser add-on/extension and replace your main homepage and search engine with its own without even asking for your permission. Sometimes called Grayware, Search.searchgmfs1.com browser hijacker does not operate as a typical virus but can still negatively affect your machine’s performance and disclose system’s security vulnerabilities, which can result in a much worse situation, not to mention the annoying ads and slow browser making the online surfing a dreadful experience.

Search.downloadmyinboxhelper.com, Search.searchmmd.com, Free.flightsearchapp.com and Search.theweathercenter.co are other browser hijackers identical to the Search.searchgmfs1.com virus and developed by the same company called Polarity Technologies. There are plenty other browser-infection-causing threats developed by the same company and the main reason behind that is the profit that Polarity makes by having more infected victims and more users that can generate pay-per-click, pay-per-view based revenue. To achieve such user interaction Search.searchgmfs1.com has to place Excessive Ads, display pop-ups, change the homepage/search engine and etc. If this sounds a little bit familiar to you then continue on reading to learn how to permanently terminate Get Directions Quick virus.

What does the  Search.searchgmfs1.com  virus do

As you have read in the introduction, Search.searchgmfs1.com browser hijacker is not as destructive as other viruses and causes more irritation than real damage, yet it can still cause harm to your system. The sneaky installation without a permission and unmanaged activity, making alterations against your will are only a couple nasty things that Get Directions Quick virus does once it finds a victim. Basically, this browser hijacker sets up in your PC through bundling as the Browser extension, then disables antivirus, connects to the Search.searchgmfs1.com server and downloads scripts that will place itself as the new default search engine, which will be impossible for the user to change, and then advertises and tracks your online activity and non-personal (and personal too) information to later use it for gaining money.

According to the Virusremovalinstructions.com there are many methods that browser hijackers like Search.searchgmfs1.com are using to monetize their activity, but the main ones are displaying sponsored ads, tracking your search queries and visited pages and redirecting you to online stores that have your searched items and getting paid for the referral, providing custom search with major search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing which pay Polarity for increased web traffic, selling gathered victims’ personal data to marketing companies and allowing third-parties to post promotions directly to the user. This all brings easy money for the crooks with the price of user’s safety and privacy.

Not only you will be in danger since your every step online, no matter if you are just watching videos or making payments with your credit card, will be tracked by hackers, one click on the displayed Malvertising banners can really ruin your PC. Not to mention the possibilities of hacked accounts, stolen identity, used credit card info and etc. So clearly it is better to remove the Get Directions Quick as early as possible to prevent all of the above.

How does the Search.searchgmfs1.com browser hijacker spread

Probably the main reason why you ended up with the Get Directions Quick browser hijacker was the irresponsible software download from the freeware distributing websites or redirects to Search.searchgmfs1.com page from other shady websites and their malevolent ads. (Top pages that cause malicious content). There is no doubt now that Every freeware/shareware distributing site offers malware with the main programs to keep the content unpaid, yet that does not mean that you cannot avoid it. The simple awareness during the setup should be enough to uncheck the additional program installation boxes that are premarked beforehand and the only set up a main legitimate program without any additional Get Directions Quick extensions.

Moreover, if you were redirected by some advertisement or link to an official Search.searchgmfs1.com it will ask you to install the add-on to enhance the browsing processes or to allow to show notifications, but once you give the permission it will download the malicious javascript code which will set the default browser settings to Search.searchgmfs1.com and the one time visit will turn into the constant Get Directions Quick appearance in your browser. If you’d like to avoid such infection in the future and learn more about viruses like Search.searchgmfs1.com, spare a few minutes reading The article on how to prevent browser hijackers .

How to quickly remove Search.searchgmfs1.com virus

The top tools that should help you to eradicate the Search.searchgmfs1.com browser hijacker fast and effective are SpyHunter and Malwarebytes. Despite browser hijackers being one of the easiest threats to delete, manual removal can still be pretty difficult for someone that has never dealt with any viruses at all. Furthermore, there is a possibility that it was another malware like adware or PUP that caused Search.searchgmfs1.com hijacker infection and even after you uninstall the malicious browser extension they will still keep causing troubles.

That is why automatic removal tools are a great investment because they hunt all kinds of malware and delete them all at once, so there are no persistent leftover viruses roaming in your PC, causing security vulnerabilities and destroying the system. Additionally, programs like SpyHunter have very sensitive detectors for virtual parasites, so the next time you click on a shady ad or link and initiate the malicious program download, this security tool will discover it right away, even before it manages to do any harm. If you do not feel like SpyHunter or Malwarebytes is what you looking for, you can take a look at our Security Product review section to choose the best one for yourself, because blindly downloading anything online that sounds legitimate can result in you infecting computer again with a Rogue antivirus.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to delete Get Directions Quick virus without a program

How to remove searchgmfs1 virus using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Get directions quick 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 Search.searchgmfs1.com virus . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make searchgmfs1 virus 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 Search.searchgmfs1.com virus from macOS

Delete searchgmfs1 virus from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Get directions quick 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.searchgmfs1.com virus 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 Get directions quick, 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.searchgmfs1.com virus 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.searchgmfs1.com virus 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 Get directions quick, 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.searchgmfs1.com virus 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 Get directions quick, 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.searchgmfs1.com virus from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Get directions quick 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.searchgmfs1.com virus, 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.

Removing Search.searchgmfs1.com virus yourself shouldn’t be too difficult, because this browser hijacker type of malware doesn’t have the persistence like ransomware mainly because it targets the browser and not the system itself. Sometimes it is enough to uninstall the malicious extension from your Mozilla/Edge/Chrome and this solves the issue, but sometimes you have to find the Search.searchgmfs1.com causing adware/PUP in the Control Panel. While there is no specific program that is known to be generating the Get Directions Quick hijacker, but suspects could be any new updates or freshly installed programs (especially if they came from the third party freeware distributor or unofficial site).

If you happen to follow our instructions and still face the consequences of Search.searchgmfs1.com browser hijacker like an inability to change homepage or pop-ups and redirects, then take a look at this article for further directions.