Search.directionsandmap.com

Search.directionsandmap.com is yet another useless and potentially harmful search engine that seems way too familiar to us. In fact, this is a browser hijacker that may change your home page settings in the main browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer. This infection is practically identical to its predecessors coming from the very same family that includes Search.searchdp.com, Search.searchlivesp.com, and Search.classifiedseasy.com to mention just a few of the latest threats. This search website offers you a fake toolbar with features, such as quick links to popular interactive online map sites, which you can easily bookmark anyway and this makes this hijacker totally redundant. As a matter of fact, this search engine may present to you unreliable third-party ads and links through the results it shows you. Due to the virtual security risks involved, we recommend that you remove Search.directionsandmap.com right away unless of course you find it useful and would like the risk of infecting your system with more malware programs or being scammed online hovering there around you in your virtual world.

Since this search website is not officially promoted, you may only install it via questionable methods, such as freeware bundles and clicking on corrupt links. It is possible to download a malicious bundle when you are trying to download a free application from suspicious file-sharing pages, such as freeware and torrent sites. In this case, you will most likely not be offered a stand-alone file but, instead, a third-party installer that may contain a couple of “surprises” in the form of malware infections, including adware programs, browser hijackers, fake alerts among others. You may only notice the real content of such a bundle when you are installing it. However, this may require your choosing the custom installation option or that you notice the assigned checkboxes in the installation wizard. If you fail to untick these boxes, the browser setting changes and the rest of the components of the package will all be installed. This is why it is not enough for you to delete Search.directionsandmap.com alone to make your virtual world safe again.

You can also infect your browsers with this hijacker if you click on questionable third-party ads and links, which is possible when your system is infected with adware or when you land on a shady website hosting such content (e.g., torrent, freeware, gaming, gambling, and dating pages). If you do not want to infect your system with an unknown number of threats, you should always download programs and other files from reputable and legitimate sources only. Hopefully, you will learn from the mistakes of this infection and understand that you need to keep your virtual world clean to protect your files and the data you are storing on your hard drives. Therefore, you should apply a reliable malware scanner to see how many real threats there are hiding on your PC right after you remove Search.directionsandmap.com from your browsers.

We have already said that this is a typically and totally useless website with features that you can easily replace with reliable ones if you use the built-in functions of your browsers. This browser hijacker provides you with a tool bar at the top of its main search page that hosts the usual search tool, the Local Weather button as well as easy-access links to Google Maps and Bing Maps. We need to emphasize that the Local Weather button takes you to a page that contains a widget surrounded by a number of annoying and potentially harmful third-party ads. We do not advise you to engage with any of those if you want to stay on the safe side.

Other than that, this infection also presents you with further threats through its search engine. Although you get redirected to an authentic-looking Yahoo search results page, you need to know that this page could be altered by this hijacker. The reason behind this is very simple. This infection makes money for its authors through advertising affiliates. This can only be done through the main page, which may show third-party ads in the future, or the search results. Since this malware can also spy on you and gather important data regarding your browsing habits, it is possible that you will see ads and links totally matching your taste or interests. These could be used as bait by cyber criminals to lure you onto their vicious websites where they can hardly wait to scam you out of your precious money or personal details. These reason should be just enough for you to want to remove Search.directionsandmap.com right away.

If you have managed to make up your mind regarding the fate of this useless hijacker, we are here to help you with the necessary steps. In fact, all you need to do is restore your home page URL settings in the affected browsers. You can do this by going to the Settings menu or by using our manual instructions below this article. But, as we have already explained, this will not save the day for you and make all your system safe and sound. In order for you to be really safe in your virtual world, you need to eliminate all possible threats. While this can be done manually if you are an IT expert, we also recommend that you install a reputable anti-malware application, such as SpyHunter to automatically take care of all your system security issues.

Remove Search.directionsandmap.com from Browsers

Google Chrome

1. Press Win+E.
2. Find the “%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default” folder.
3. Bin these files: Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data
4. Empty the Recycle Bin.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Win+E.
2. Find the “%AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{Unique Mozilla user ID}” folder.
3. Open the prefs.js file in a text editor.
4. Modify the user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://search.directionsandmap.com/") string with a URL address that you like.

Internet Explorer

1. Press Win+Q and type regedit. Press Enter.
2. Change “http://search.directionsandmap.com” in these registry keys:
   HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page (64-bit)
   HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page
   HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page
3. Change the value data in these value names in “HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}” registry entry:
   FaviconURL (value data: “http://search.directionsandmap.com/favicon.ico”)
   FaviconURLFallback (value data: “http://search.directionsandmap.com/favicon.ico”)
   TopResultURL (value data: “http://search.directionsandmap.com”)
   URL (value data: “http://search.directionsandmap.com”)
4. Exit the registry editor.