Direct Search Online Redirects - How to remove

Directsearchonline.com is a website that makes your browser display search results in Yahoo.com – regardless of what search engine was set in your settings. Directsearchonline.com is associated with the extension Direct Search Online. Besides forcing you to use Yahoo, it also reads your search history and might use it for targeted advertising.

Overall, Direct Search Online is just not a helpful extension and it might even negatively affect your privacy.

About Directsearchonline.com:

Classification	Browser hijacker, adware.
Signs that Direct Search Online was installed	Yahoo takes over your searches, Directsearchonline.com appears in your address bar, your home page/new tab looks different.
Other problems and issues	Your browsing and search history is logged and might be used to show you targeted ads, you might not have installed this extension intentionally.
How to stop Directsearchonline.com redirects	Uninstall Direct Search Online from your browser, if needed, check for other unwanted apps and programs with antivirus tools (Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, others).

How Direct Search Online changes your browser

It makes Yahoo deliver your search results

Direct Search Online is a browser add-on (a little app that changes some features of your internet browser).

Specifically, Direct Search Online is a search redirecting app. Once it’s installed, it makes all your search queries go to Yahoo through Directsearchonline.com. It makes Search.directsearchonline.com your new default search engine.

When Direct Search Online is installed, you might notice these changes:

• When you search the internet, Yahoo is the one to deliver your results.
• You may notice the address “Directsearchonline.com” briefly appear in your address bar.
• Your new tab/home page might look different.

It reads your browsing data

That’s not all that Direct Search Online does. It also logs your browsing and search history. According to its privacy policy, it might use this data to show you targeted ads. The same privacy policy promises to delete any personal data that might be in your search history, but you can probably see a couple of problems with that:

• Not everyone agrees on what counts as personal data, which means that information that you consider to be personal might remain undeleted.
• That data is still logged, so it might be seen by someone before it gets deleted.

Why browser hijackers ought to be avoided

Direct Search Online appears to be relatively harmless. But it has a lot of problems:

• No useful features.
• Possibly unwanted installation.
• Data collection and lack of privacy.
• Hijacked browser settings.

The only “feature” of Direct Search Online is changing your search settings to Yahoo. But this is something that you can already do in your settings (How to Change Your Default Search Engine in Chrome, Edge, Firefox & Safari).

According to the Google Web Store, Direct Search Online has over forty thousand users. If that number is accurate, it’s extremely unlikely that its users installed an extension as useless as Direct Search Online voluntarily. More likely, they were tricked into it by deceptive ads and bundlers.

Then there’s the data collection. Yahoo already collects data on each of its users, as do most search engines. But while they allow you to view and manage your search history, Directsearchonline.com is not nearly as transparent. It can’t easily be held accountable. Direct Search Online works similarly to Browse Incognito, MovieSearchTool, and other search hijacking extensions.

While Direct Search Online is installed on your browser, all its problems continue to affect you. Therefore, it’s recommended to remove Direct Search Online and take back control over your web search.

How to stop the Directsearchonline.com redirects

Uninstall the Direct Search Online extension and remove other suspicious extensions, too. The instructions for removing extensions can be found at the bottom.

Use antivirus programs, such as Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others, to detect and remove malicious and potentially unwanted programs from your device. This is especially important in the case that Direct Search Online was installed without your knowledge and permission.

Review your browser settings and change them as needed. Make sure your new tab page is how you want it to be and that your default search engine is a trusted website (Top 10 Search Engines In The World).

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually remove unwanted extensions

TopHow To remove Direct Search Online Redirects from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Direct Search Online Redirects, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Direct Search Online Redirects from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Direct Search Online Redirects, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.