Remove Drivingdirectionshome.org Redirect

Can’t Remove Drivingdirectionshome.org hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Drivingdirectionshome.org Removal instructions!

As you probably know already, Drivingdirectionshome.org is dangerous. This program is a classic member of the pesky browser hijacker family. According to its official website, Drivingdirectionshome.org provides driving directions and improves your online experience. However, things aren’t as they seem. The parasite takes over all your favorite, trusty browsers and messes with their settings. That means you’re not in charge of your own browsing experience anymore. The parasite’s developers are. Hackers are more than willing to cause you damage so don’t underestimate the threat Drivingdirectionshome.org poses. You’re dealing with a sneaky cyber infection that works behind your back. As soon as the virus gets installed, it adds a browser extension. In addition to that, your search engine and browser homepage get altered. Both are replaced with the hijacker’s own domain. Thus, you now have to use Drivingdirectionshome.org every single time you attempt to find anything online. Why are crooks so stubborn to force this domain on you? Because they aim at generating web traffic. You’ll quickly see for yourself just how effective hijackers are in that department. With your default browser settings modified, there is only one category of web links on your PC screen. Sponsored web links. That means all seemingly harmless search results generated by the hijacker are unreliable. You could be more than positive some of them are corrupted and harmful. Others might turn out to be absolutely safe. There is no way to tell whether a certain link is dangerous or not unless you click it open. Is that really a risk you’d be willing to take, though? If you’re especially unlucky, you could get redirected to questionable websites filled with malware. As long as the virus is present, you are one single click away from installing more infections. You already have a nasty browser hijacker to worry about. There is no reason to be tolerating this pest till more parasites get installed. Drivingdirectionshome.org hijacks all your favorite browsers. It could install some additional toolbars and modify their settings further. Also, watch out for sponsored commercials. The virus may start displaying pop-ups in all shapes imaginable. What all commercials share is the fact you have to stay away from them. Sponsored advertisements are anything but trustworthy. They get generated solely to help hackers gain profit through the pay-per-click mechanism. Hackers’ last concern was to create a program that will be beneficial for you. Therefore, you’d lose nothing by uninstalling the hijacker.

How did I get infected with?

There are some notoriously popular methods parasites use to get spread online. Number one technique is called freeware/shareware bundling. It is just as stealthy as it sounds so next time you download such programs, be careful. Opt for the Custom or Advanced option in the Setup Wizard and take your time. Reading the Terms and Conditions is yet another piece of good advice that could help you protect your safety. You might realize that some unwanted program has been attached to the bundle you’re about to download. Unless you spot the intruder and deselect it, you end up compromising your own security. That is why we’d recommend that you watch out for infections during the installation. Keep an eye out for sneaky parasites because installing malware takes a moment. Getting rid of a parasite, on the other hands, is a hassle. Restrain yourself from installing unverified programs as well. Remember that preventing virus infiltration is your responsibility. Make sure you don’t cause your device damage and be cautious online.

Why is this dangerous?

The hijacker boosts web traffic to some unknown websites. To do so, Drivingdirectionshome.org alters your default browser settings without bothering to seek permission. After all, infections aren’t trying to enhance your online activities. Even though this program was supposed to help you browse the Web, its one goal is to help hackers gain revenue. That is why it hijacks Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. None of your browsers is reliable anymore so make no mistakes. Avoid the web links brought by this nuisance. That includes the search results, commercials, even software updates. Be careful not to make one already bad situation much worse. The hijacker might cause you some privacy issues because it collects browsing-related data. To delete it manually, please follow our detailed removal guide down below.

How to Remove Drivingdirectionshome.org virus

The Drivingdirectionshome.org infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Drivingdirectionshome.org infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

STEP 1: Track down Drivingdirectionshome.org related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Drivingdirectionshome.org startup location

STEP 3: Delete Drivingdirectionshome.org traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Drivingdirectionshome.org related processes in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Drivingdirectionshome.org startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Drivingdirectionshome.org virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

STEP 3 : Clean Drivingdirectionshome.org traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Drivingdirectionshome.org by clicking on the little recycle bin
• Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

• Open Mozilla Firefox

• Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
• Disable the unwanted Extension
• Go to Help
• Then Troubleshoot information
• Click on Reset Firefox

• Open Internet Explorer

• On the Upper Right Corner Click on the Gear Icon
• Click on Internet options
• go to Toolbars and Extensions and disable the unknown extensions
• Select the Advanced tab and click on Reset

• Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Drivingdirectionshome.org

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Drivingdirectionshome.org, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

You must clean all your browser shortcuts as well. To do that you need to

• Right click on the shortcut of your favorite browser and then select properties.

• in the target field remove Drivingdirectionshome.org argument and then apply the changes.
• Repeat that with the shortcuts of your other browsers.
• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Drivingdirectionshome.org Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible registry leftovers or temporary files.