What is Search For Directions?
The Malwarebytes research team has determined that Search For Directions is a search hijacker. These so-called "hijackers" manipulate your browser(s), for example to change your startpage or searchscopes, so that the affected browser visits their site or one of their choice.
How do I know if my computer is affected by Search For Directions?
You may see this entry in your list of installed Firefox extensions:
this icon in the Firefox menu-bar:
this changed setting:
You may have noticed these warnings during install:
How did Search For Directions get on my computer?
Browser hijackers use different methods for distributing themselves. This particular one was downloaded from their website:
How do I remove Search For Directions?
Our program Malwarebytes can detect and remove this potentially unwanted program.
- Please download Malwarebytes for Windows to your desktop.
- Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
- When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
- Click on the Get started button.
- Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
- When the scan is finished click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
- Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.
- No, Malwarebytes removes Search For Directions completely.
We hope our application and this guide have helped you eradicate this hijacker.
As you can see below Malwarebytes Browser Guard, and the full version of Malwarebytes would have protected you against the Search For Directions hijacker. It would have blocked their website, giving you a chance to stop it before it became too late.
Technical details for experts
Possible signs in FRST logs:
FF Extension: (Search For Directions) - C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{profile}.default\Extensions\{6770b2e1-ff5e-44ce-ad31-582d2846b379}.xpi [2020-03-10] [UpdateUrl:hxxps://cdn.searchfordirections-cdn.com/xpi/searchfordirections/yahoo/0320/updates.json]Alterations made by the installer:
File system details [View: All details] (Selection) --------------------------------------------------- In the existing folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{profile}.default\extensions Adds the file {6770b2e1-ff5e-44ce-ad31-582d2846b379}.xpi"="3/10/2020 9:26 AM, 73266 bytes, AMalwarebytes log:
Malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.com -Log Details- Scan Date: 3/10/20 Scan Time: 12:57 PM Log File: 528e0604-62c6-11ea-8f90-00ffdcc6fdfc.json -Software Information- Version: 4.1.0.56 Components Version: 1.0.835 Update Package Version: 1.0.20498 License: Premium -System Information- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 CPU: x64 File System: NTFS User: {computername}\{username} -Scan Summary- Scan Type: Threat Scan Scan Initiated By: Manual Result: Completed Objects Scanned: 235097 Threats Detected: 1 Threats Quarantined: 1 Time Elapsed: 9 min, 22 sec -Scan Options- Memory: Enabled Startup: Enabled Filesystem: Enabled Archives: Enabled Rootkits: Disabled Heuristics: Enabled PUP: Detect PUM: Detect -Scan Details- Process: 0 (No malicious items detected) Module: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Key: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Value: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Data: 0 (No malicious items detected) Data Stream: 0 (No malicious items detected) Folder: 0 (No malicious items detected) File: 1 PUP.Optional.TightRopeInteractive, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\ROAMING\MOZILLA\FIREFOX\PROFILES\{profile}.default\EXTENSIONS\{6770B2E1-FF5E-44CE-AD31-582D2846B379}.XPI, Quarantined, 294, 798668, 1.0.20498, , ame, Physical Sector: 0 (No malicious items detected) WMI: 0 (No malicious items detected) (end)As mentioned before the full version of Malwarebytes could have protected your computer against this threat.
We use different ways of protecting your computer(s):
- Dynamically Blocks Malware Sites & Servers
- Malware Execution Prevention