How to remove Directsearchapp.com

What is Directsearchapp.com

Directsearchapp.com is one of many domains representing a fake search engine that replaces your default homepage. It does so by crawling deep into the settings and altering them to promote intrusive features. Infections with such capabilities are usually classified as browser hijackers. Traditionally, their purpose is to generate fake traffic by exploiting legitimate search engines (Yahoo, in our case). This means that instead of using Directsearchapp.com, ostensibly claimed to be better than other search engines, the app will redirect you to legitimate search.yahoo.com. This depreciates the value of Directsearchapp.com as a useful tool because it has nothing special to offer. One more thing diminishing its reputation is data-tracking abilities. Because it has direct access to browser settings, the program can scoop up your data and sell it to third-party organizations. Based on these facts, we recommend you delete Directsearchapp.com from your system to prevent privacy threats.

How Directsearchapp.com infected your computer

Before exploring the removal instructions, we want you to know how Directsearchapp.com could get on your PC. Since it is a Potentially Unwanted Program, the method to proliferate such software is usually via so-called “bundling”. To be more specific, it means downloading/installing freeware from the web. It can be pirated or cracked programs used to bypass the activation of licensed software. During the installation, be ready to stumble upon additional offers (often hidden inside of “Advanced/Custom” sections). In case you left them unchartered, the infection may be installed alongside the main program. To avert this, always pay attention to details, read Terms of Use, and deselect additional software offered during the setup. Even if it is marked as something useful, it still may conceal a threat, so do not trust it that much. To minimize the risk of similar infections in the future, you should use only legitimate and licensed software. If you cannot stop downloading freeware completely, make sure you pick up a list of trusted and tested websites to do it. And now, without further ado, let’s hop into the steps presented below.

Remove Directsearchapp.com manually for free

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

Note: Directsearchapp.com 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 Directsearchapp.com from Control Panel

To start removing Directsearchapp.com you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names, but usually “DirectSearchApp”. 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, Windows 8, Windows 10 or Mac.

Remove Directsearchapp.com from Mac:

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

Remove Directsearchapp.com from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find DirectSearchApp or other suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Directsearchapp.com from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find DirectSearchApp or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Directsearchapp.com 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 DirectSearchApp or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Directsearchapp.com from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Directsearchapp.com 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 DirectSearchApp or other suspicious program 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 DirectSearchApp or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Directsearchapp.com

In some cases, Directsearchapp.com won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Directsearchapp.com. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Directsearchapp.com folder and files. This happens because the 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 Directsearchapp.com 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 DirectSearchApp or other suspicious program

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

and for Mac:

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

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Directsearchapp.com from Control Panel often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has browser extensions and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Directsearchapp.com related extensions 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 DirectSearchApp extension.
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 DirectSearchApp or other suspicious extensions.
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 DirectSearchApp or other suspicious 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 Directsearchapp.com from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Directsearchapp.com, 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 DirectSearchApp or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Directsearchapp.com 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 DirectSearchApp or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Directsearchapp.com installs a search engine that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s 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.

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 Directsearchapp.com. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.