How to remove Directions Whiz Toolbar

What is Directions Whiz Toolbar

Directions Whiz is part of the Mindspark Interactive Network family. Unlike other toolbars, it can stand out for its driving directions feature allowing users to find the needed route without referring to Google or Apple maps. Of course, this can be deemed as its distinctive feature. However, whilst it can seem time-saving and very helpful, it is classified as a potentially unwanted application that is capable of monitoring your browser activity and other sorts of information. Passwords, searching history and other data can be shared with third parties for generating profit. The main circle of users that usually get hooked by this type of fraudulence is inexperienced people like elders who do not know how to operate cautiously in the internet prospects. Besides that, Directions Whiz is developed for browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer apparently to have a bigger database of victims. It secretly adjusts the browser settings without the user’s consent to get a wider angle of your activity. The attempts to restore your browser settings are pointless because if you do this, it will apply the same changes in return. Moreover, just like any toolbar extension, it alters the entire browser interface by adding a custom homepage and changing the search engine to hp.myway.com that cannot be reset either. Based on its name related to the location we can then intuitively assume that it can track your IP-address which is, as research showed, an absolute truth. Therefore, the presence of a data-tracking application can drive to privacy and identity theft. That is why we insist uninstalling this dreadful extension from your computer by following the guide below.

How Directions Whiz Toolbar infected your computer

Directions Whiz Toolbar can be downloaded from the official developer website. Although, toolbar creators decided to embrace the bigger range of victims by paying other developers to charge their software with “bundles”. Thereby, you could install it inadvertently while hurrying through the installation process skipping all of the sections and steps. Therefore, you could probably miss the “Custom” or “Advanced” sections where usually lurks the unexpected guest. Toolbar extensions can also pass by your awareness and infiltrate into your computer through deceptive advertisements on unwanted pages. Remember to not click on suspicious links even if they are sent by your close friends or most importantly, from people you are not familiar with. There have been lots of random people sending different links with bright and mouth-watering headers like “Click on the link and get 1000 dollars for free” in social media. This is pure spam and you should not be endangering yourself just due to naiveness and curiosity. See how you can delete Directions Whiz Toolbar from your computer by following the instructions below.

Remove Directions Whiz Toolbar manually for free

Here is the manual step-by-step tutorial for full Directions Whiz Toolbar removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of Directions Whiz Toolbar installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Note: Directions Whiz Toolbar can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy inscription near it), and this will not allow removal. Therefore, before starting removal process, perform these actions:

1. Start the Command Prompt by clicking the Start menu button and typing command prompt (or just searching for “command prompt” in Windows 10 search field). Right click on the Command Prompt result and choose Run as Administrator.



2. Type in and execute the following commands:

   
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force

Remove Directions Whiz Toolbar from Control Panel

To start removing Directions Whiz Toolbar you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Directions Whiz Toolbar” or just “Directions Whiz”. It should uninstall correctly, however, we recommend you to use IObit Uninstaller to clean leftover items after uninstalling. Here are instructions for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Remove Directions Whiz Toolbar from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Directions Whiz Toolbar might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Remove Directions Whiz Toolbar from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Directions Whiz Toolbar from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz and click Uninstall.

Remove Directions Whiz Toolbar from Windows 8:

1. Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz, click Uninstall.

Remove Directions Whiz Toolbar from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Directions Whiz Toolbar from Windows 10

Way one

1. Click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the System tile.
4. Click Apps & features and locate Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz in the list.
5. Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.

Way two (classic)

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
3. Locate Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Directions Whiz Toolbar

In some cases, Directions Whiz Toolbar won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Directions Whiz Toolbar. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing Directions Whiz Toolbar folder and files. This happens, because process or service does not allow you to do it. In this case, I will recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes or uninstall Directions Whiz Toolbar in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting press F8 button.
3. This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
4. Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
5. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz

>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode

and for Mac:

If you can’t uninstall Directions Whiz Toolbar using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Directions Whiz Toolbar. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag Directions Whiz Toolbar from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Directions Whiz Toolbar.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Directions Whiz Toolbar from Control Panel often does not bring desired effect. It sometimes have browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Directions Whiz Toolbar extension from your browsers manually.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz add-ons.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove them.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz extensions.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.
5. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove Directions Whiz Toolbar from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Directions Whiz Toolbar, please, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Directions Whiz Toolbar does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser.
2. Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Find Directions Whiz Toolbar or Directions Whiz extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Directions Whiz Toolbar installs search engine (hp.myway.com), that hijacks your browsers. Here is instruction to reset your browsers homepage, new tab and search engine to default values.

Reset Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
3. Click Remove All Website Data button.
4. In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
5. Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
6. Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
7. In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
8. Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
9. Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
4. Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
5. Click Reset browser settings button and click Reset to confirm.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Reset Firefox… button.
4. Click Reset Firefox to confirm.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu choose Internet options.
4. Click Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset button.
6. Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.

Opera Browser:

1. Close Opera and open command prompt from the start menu.
2. Type following command del %AppData%\Opera\Opera\operaprefs.ini
3. Start Opera.

How to block redirects and pop-ups from Directions Whiz Toolbar

AdGuard main window

AdGuard general settings

AdGuard browser assistant

Directions Whiz Toolbar redirects, in most cases, are caused by a program installed on your PC or add-on installed in browsers. However, sometimes it can appear on a clean computer when visiting malicious website, using advertising script. Also, apps that generate “Directions Whiz Toolbar” are themselves installed from pop-ups. To protect your PC and browsers from phishing websites, pop-up ads, banners, malicious scripts it is recommended to use AdGuard. Download free trial here:

Alternative way to remove adware browser extensions and reset browser settings

For safe and effective browser extension removal use avast! Browser Cleanup utility. Run it with administrator privileges and remove all extensions with bad rating including related to Directions Whiz Toolbar. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.

Cleaning browsers shortcuts

You can clean your browser shortcuts manually right-clicking on your browser icon, choosing “Properties” and removing hijacker address from “Target” field (leave just the path to your browser). However it is easier to use free Shortcut Cleaner from BleepingComputer. Download it here – its FREE:

Final tips

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Directions Whiz Toolbar may become a real headache as they are hard to remove and break your privacy. To keep safe from such threats we recommend you always use antivirus and one of anti-malware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-spyware and anti-malware programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats, like Directions Whiz Toolbar.