If your Edge, Google Chrome, IE and Firefox web browser homepage have changed to Search.mydrivingdirections.co somehow, and you have tried to revert back your home page and search engine from web browser settings, but it did not help, then it’s possible that your browser has been infected by the obnoxious browser hijacker. The browser hijacker is an one type of unwanted programs which imposes changes to settings of all your typical internet browsers without your’s permission, to redirect you into unwanted web-pages. The browser hijacker commonly replace the Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer current default search engine, start page and newtab page with its own.
If your PC has been affected with Search.mydrivingdirections.co hijacker, every time you open your web-browser you’ll see this web-site. Of course you can setup your home page again, but next time you run a web-browser you’ll see that Search.mydrivingdirections.co return. As mentioned above, the browser hijacker can alter the default search provider on this unwanted website too, so all your search queries will be redirected to Search.mydrivingdirections.co. Thus the authors of the browser hijacker can collect the search terms of your queries, and redirect you to undesired web sites.
It is not a good idea to have an unwanted program like Search.mydrivingdirections.co hijacker on your PC. The reason for this is simple, it doing things you do not know about. The browser hijacker has the ability to gather a wide variety of user information that can be later used for marketing purposes. You don’t know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe. And of course you completely do not know what will happen when you click on any ads on the Search.mydrivingdirections.co website.
Thus, it’s clear that the presence of browser hijacker on your PC system is not desirable, and you need to clean up your PC system as soon as possible. Follow the few simple steps below in order to remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co from Internet Explorer, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
Remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co from Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge
There are a few ways which can be used to get rid of Search.mydrivingdirections.co. But, not all PUPs such as this hijacker infection can be completely removed utilizing only manual methods. In most cases you are not able to uninstall any browser hijacker infection utilizing standard Windows options. In order to remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co you need complete a few manual steps and run reliable removal tools. Most security experts states that Zemana Free, MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) or Hitman Pro tools are a right choice. These free applications are able to scan for and delete Search.mydrivingdirections.co from your computer and revert back your web-browser settings to defaults.
To remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co, perform the following steps:
- Remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co startpage without any utilities
- How to automatically remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co hijacker
- Block Search.mydrivingdirections.co redirect and other unwanted webpages
- Tips to prevent Search.mydrivingdirections.co and other unwanted applications
- To sum up
Remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co startpage without any utilities
Most common hijackers may be deleted without any antivirus applications. The manual browser hijacker removal is guidance that will teach you how to delete the Search.mydrivingdirections.co .
Delete PUPs through the MS Windows Control Panel
We recommend that you begin the PC cleaning process by checking the list of installed programs and remove all unknown or dubious applications. This is a very important step, as mentioned above, very often the harmful applications such as adware and hijackers may be bundled with freeware. Remove the unwanted programs can get rid of the undesired advertisements or internet browser redirect.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, click Windows button , then click Search . Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter like below.
Once the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as shown below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as displayed on the image below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your personal computer. Most likely, one of them is the browser hijacker that responsible for internet browser reroute to the intrusive Search.mydrivingdirections.co web-page. If you have many applications installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious apps by sort the list by date of installation. Once you have found a suspicious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it, after that click ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, press ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as shown on the image below.
When the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as shown below.
You will see a list of programs installed on your machine. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the software that were installed last. Most likely, it’s the hijacker which designed to reroute your web browser to the Search.mydrivingdirections.co page. If you’re in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. Once the program which you need to uninstall is found, simply click on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ like below.
Clean up the internet browsers shortcuts which have been affected by Search.mydrivingdirections.co
After installed, the hijacker which redirects your web-browser to undesired Search.mydrivingdirections.co webpage, may add an argument such as “http://site.address” into the Target property of the desktop shortcut file for the Firefox, Google Chrome, Edge and IE. Due to this, every time you start the web-browser, it will open an undesired webpage.
Right click on the shortcut file of affected web-browser as displayed on the screen below.
Select the “Properties” option and it will display the shortcut’s properties. Next, click the “Shortcut” tab and then delete the “http://site.address” string from Target field as displayed in the figure below.
Then click OK to save changes. Repeat the step for all internet browsers that are re-directed to the Search.mydrivingdirections.co intrusive web-site.
Delete Search.mydrivingdirections.co from IE
First, start the Internet Explorer, then press ‘gear’ icon . It will show the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the internet browser, then press the “Internet Options” as on the image below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then click the “Reset” button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box. Further, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, press the “Reset” button as displayed in the figure below.
When the procedure is complete, click “Close” button. Close the Internet Explorer and reboot your machine for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your web-browser’s search engine, homepage and newtab to default state.
Remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co from Firefox
If Firefox home page or search provider are hijacked by the Search.mydrivingdirections.co, your web browser displays intrusive popup advertisements, then ‘Reset Firefox’ could solve these problems. However, your themes, bookmarks, history, passwords, and web form auto-fill information will not be deleted.
Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and press the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu as displayed below.
A small menu will appear, press the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed in the figure below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to revert back your Mozilla Firefox web-browser settings to their default values.
Remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co from Chrome
Reset Chrome settings can help you solve some problems caused by hijacker and remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co from home page, newtab page and search engine. This will also disable harmful add-ons as well as clear cookies and site data. However, your saved bookmarks and passwords will not be lost.
- First launch the Google Chrome and press Menu button (small button in the form of three dots).
- It will open the Chrome main menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions.
- You will see the list of installed extensions. If the list has the plugin labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guidance: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
- You will see the Google Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and press “Advanced” link.
- Scroll down again and click the “Reset” button.
- The Google Chrome will open the reset profile settings page as shown on the screen above.
- Next click the “Reset” button.
- Once this procedure is done, your browser’s new tab page, homepage and search provider will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the article How to reset Chrome settings to default.
How to automatically remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co hijacker
The easiest method to remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co browser hijacker is to run an anti-malware program capable of detecting browser hijackers including Search.mydrivingdirections.co. We suggest try Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) or another free malicious software remover that listed below. It has excellent detection rate when it comes to adware, browser hijackers and other PUPs.
How to remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co with Zemana AntiMalware
Download Zemana Free to get rid of Search.mydrivingdirections.co automatically from all of your web browsers. This is a freeware tool specially developed for malicious software removal. This utility can remove ad supported software, browser hijacker from IE, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge and MS Windows registry automatically.
Please go to the following link to download Zemana Free. Save it directly to your Windows Desktop.
164035 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
Once downloading is finished, close all programs and windows on your PC system. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup like below.
When the installation begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will help you install Zemana Anti Malware on your machine.
Once installation is finished, you will see window as on the image below.
Now press the “Scan” button for checking your computer for the browser hijacker infection related to Search.mydrivingdirections.co . Depending on your machine, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour.
Once Zemana completes the scan, the results are displayed in the scan report. Next, you need to click “Next” button.
The Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) will remove browser hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Search.mydrivingdirections.co and add threats to the Quarantine.
Scan your PC system and remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co with Hitman Pro
HitmanPro is a free removal tool that can be downloaded and run to remove browser hijackers, adware, malware, PUPs, toolbars and other threats from your personal computer. You may use this utility to scan for threats even if you have an antivirus or any other security application.
Download HitmanPro by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Desktop.
Download and use HitmanPro on your computer. Once started, press “Next” button to perform a system scan for the Search.mydrivingdirections.co browser hijacker and other browser’s harmful extensions. .
After the checking is finished, you can check all threats detected on your machine.
All detected threats will be marked. You can get rid of them all by simply click Next button.
It will display a dialog box, press the “Activate free license” button to begin the free 30 days trial to remove all malicious software found.
How to automatically delete Search.mydrivingdirections.co with Malwarebytes
We recommend using the Malwarebytes Free. You can download and install Malwarebytes to find out and remove Search.mydrivingdirections.co from your PC. When installed and updated, the free malware remover will automatically scan and detect all threats exist on the system.
Installing the MalwareBytes AntiMalware is simple. First you will need to download MalwareBytes Free from the following link.
326389 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
When the download is done, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) will try to update itself and when this task is finished, press the “Scan Now” button to begin scanning your PC system for the browser hijacker responsible for modifying your browser settings to Search.mydrivingdirections.co. Depending on your computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. During the scan MalwareBytes will detect threats exist on your PC system. You may remove items (move to Quarantine) by simply click “Quarantine Selected” button.
The MalwareBytes is a free application that you can use to remove all detected folders, files, services, registry entries and so on. To learn more about this malicious software removal utility, we recommend you to read and follow the step-by-step guidance or the video guide below.
Block Search.mydrivingdirections.co redirect and other unwanted webpages
The AdGuard is a very good ad-blocking program for the Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer and Firefox, with active user support. It does a great job by removing certain types of undesired advertisements, popunders, pop ups, unwanted newtab pages, and even full page advertisements and website overlay layers. Of course, the AdGuard can block the Search.mydrivingdirections.co automatically or by using a custom filter rule.
Click the following link to download AdGuard. Save it on your Desktop.
26628 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
Once the downloading process is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown below.
Follow the prompts. When the installation is finished, you will see a window as shown in the figure below.
You can press “Skip” to close the setup program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial which will assist you get to know AdGuard better.
In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you launch your PC system, AdGuard will start automatically and block pop up advertisements, web-sites such as Search.mydrivingdirections.co, as well as other malicious or misleading web-pages. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, which is located on your desktop.
Tips to prevent Search.mydrivingdirections.co and other unwanted applications
The hijacker infection come bundled with some free software. So always read carefully the installation screens, disclaimers, ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Software license’ appearing during the install procedure. Additionally pay attention for optional apps which are being installed along with the main program. Ensure that you unchecked all of them! Also, run an adblocker application that will help to stop malicious, misleading, illegitimate or untrustworthy web sites.
To sum up
Now your personal computer should be free of the browser hijacker infection responsible for Search.mydrivingdirections.co redirect. We suggest that you keep Zemana (to periodically scan your computer for new browser hijackers and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted ads and harmful web pages). Moreover, to prevent any hijacker infection, please stay clear of unknown and third party applications, make sure that your antivirus application, turn on the option to search for PUPs.
If you need more help with Search.mydrivingdirections.co related issues, go to here.